finding time by organizing your priorities

Somebody recently asked me when I actually sleep. With all the things going on in my life at the moment I still had time to hang out and have brunch with her and told her all of the movies I’ve been watching. Its actually pretty simple, its all about setting up your priorities.

High on my list of priorities are my friends. I don’t have many that I see frequently these days, so when I get a phone call or an email saying one is going to be in town and want to go for brunch or hang out, of course I’ll say yes. Unless I have an absolutely immovable meeting or am booked solid, I try my darndest to say yes to meet up. It just means I have to shift something else around and reset some of my priorities.

If its important to you, you’ll find time for it. That’s just how it is. There is always time for the things that are important to you. If you don’t have time for it, it means it isn’t important to you, simple as that. When somebody tells you they don’t have time to see you, that just means you’re not as important to them as something else at the moment, lol. Finding time can be a challenge if you’re extremely busy, but it isn’t impossible. If you commute at any part of your day (most people do), that is a great time to listen to those language courses to learn that language you’ve always wanted to learn. Or going for a run during your lunch break and eating at your desk for those pressed to finding time for a healthy workout.

Idle TV or news reading time can be eliminated if TV or news isn’t high on your priority (I hope TV isn’t). Things that should be high on everybody’s priority list should include stuff you enjoy like your hobbies and passions, your health, your work (yes, your work quality is a reflection of your drive to succeed and commitment to others), your friends and family, that sort of thing. So what is important to you? Put those things at the top of your priority list. What isn’t important to you? Those things should go at the bottom. If you find that your job isn’t very important to you, then you should probably look for a career change. If you find that video games is high on your list, hopefully your balancing that with something important that is also high on your list, like saving the whales or something.

A good time of day to get a lot of your tasks out of the way is as soon as you get up. You’ll notice that if you knock off some of your higher priority items as soon as you get up, you’ll have a great feeling of accomplishment and the rest of your day will be more enjoyable. Before you go to bed, plan ahead and prioritize some of the important tasks you have to do the next day. Its about being productive, doing things effectively and efficiently, and being smart with your time. You can’t do everything, but you sure as heck can do a lot if you prioritize and act. I actually sleep pretty well, its high on my priority list 🙂