Scheduled priorities are kept priorities

Scheduled priorities are kept priorities.

It takes great effort to keep one’s priorities uppermost. Invariably, urgent needs crowd the mind until decision fatigue sets in. No priority can thrive under constant stress. The trouble is exacerbated by the reality that many priorities are important but not urgent. They rarely press upon one’s mind for a response, unlike lesser demands, and will quietly avoid attention until long after the opportunity has past.

Anderson notes that “the only way you are likely to engage in your priorities is to schedule them ((Anderson, pg. 34)).” One’s priorities must be the first items on the calendar or they will miss the calendar altogether. This is poignant to business because there is no arena where distractions and urgent but unimportant requests gather like they do in the business world. The desire to impress, to stay busy, to excel, all work against the entrepreneur and urge him to take on every urgent matter. When his schedule is blocked for the important-no calls, no email-he may assess the true nature of the work before him, what he alone can accomplish, what plays to his strengths, and what he ought to delegate to others.

For years I’ve been a time and project management junkie. I’ve developed action plans, curriculums for Christlikeness, six month, one year, and five year goals, action assessments, and more. I’ve always assumed if there was 16 hours of waking time in a day, I should fill it with valuable work. My failures to keep this up for any amount of time, despite redoubling my efforts every couple months, were blamed on poor self-discipline.

In the past two months I’ve had to recon with chronic pain that I’ve never let be part of the picture. Most days I sit at a 3/10 on the pain scale, but every couple weeks I’m in the 5-7 range. I’ve had the attitude that I’ll prove to myself that I’m superior to others by doing the same work faster and better despite a minor disability. As years of pain have dragged on; however, my capacity to keep up the facade had diminished considerably, and wise counsel has challenged the health and truth of my perspective.

As I seek to apply Anderson’s wisdom about priorities and time management, I recognize that my previous concept of available time, 16 hours a day, isn’t an accurate assessment of what I can sustain. With fewer productive hours than a healthy person, I lose more than the average worker when I don’t place the most excellent things first.

To keep my priorities, I’ll begin by writing them down and reviewing them on a semi-daily basis. Where I can work them in without taking something out of my schedule, I’ll give it a try, but it’s likely I’ll need to remove something to make a priority fit. This time around, I’ll factor in the cost of pain and go easier on myself.

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