In this blog post I emphasize the importance of prioritizing.
Making something a priority means that you don’t make excuses. You go for it full on with commitment. Yes, life is busy. Most of us are busy. We have a lot to do. You can still have priorities. We all do. We may not chose them consciously but when we start observing our behaviour it becomes obvious what our priorities are.
Making studying a language a priority is difficult if you do not have a strong enough motivation to make it a priority. Before we can place learning a new language higher on our priority list we need to sit down and figure our why we want to learn the language and what we want to use it for. We must find a strong enough motivator that will hold us countable, daily.
It seems to me that most people do not even have a priority list. They just go with the ‘ flow’ . They often give into the pulls of the world and whatever has the stronger pull, they just make that a priority. When we do not prioritize the ‘items’ of our life, we let ourselves down.
We maybe motivated to learn a new language because we want to move aboard or a holiday is coming up abroad, or there is a promotion in the pipeline and we still not find the time to practise. This is when we allow ourselves to be distracted by somethin or someone. This is when we say YES to things that we should be saying NO to.
Maybe it is time to notice these moments of choice where we make someone else’s priorities more important!
Here is a coaching task on ‘checking your priorities’! Have fun with it!
Your Priorities in Life
List of Priorities
Make a list of everything that is most important to you in life.
DRAW a circle and slice it up like a cake. Look at this chart below and find different areas of life where you may have priorities. List at least one priority for each slice. See examples below.
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For example:
- particular relationships such as partner, family or friends
- having stimulating or rewarding work
- being well respected
- making the most of your creative talents
- living in a home where you feel comfortable
- being in good health
- physical fitness
- partaking in sports
- spiritual wellbeing
- being a respected member of a particular group or community
- independence
- having time to relax
- taking on challenges
- speaking a foreign language fluently
Now do your best to order these in order of importance with the most important first.
Now, limit the list to the top five priorities for you. You can change the list but it is best to just take out the first five on your present list. Go through them again and CHECK if they are truly your priorities or someone else’s. If they are not really yours, do the task again until the first 5 priority is truly yours. When you found them, can you somehow commit to achieving them with a timeline?
Once you have got your list in order of importance, spend a few minutes reflecting on how the current way that you spend your time matches (or doesn’t match as the case may be) the order of your priorities. In the light of your reflection on your priorities are you happy with how you are now living or is there anything you would like to adjust in your typical daily or weekly schedule to allow you to focus more time and energy on your priorities? If there is, then make a commitment – even if only a small one – as to how you will adjust your use of time in the desired way.
Making Decisions
If you have decisions to make and are not sure what option to choose, you can use the list you have created as a benchmark to help you decide what you want to do. This does not mean that in every situation you will choose an option that reflects the number 1 priority on your list, merely that in making your choices you will at least be aware of the different competing priorities that may inform the choices you make and you can make a decision based on how you would like to balance the priorities or follow one rather than another.
If you want to ‘ lean’ English with me, get in touch by clicking on the pictures below.
