LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"If it's a priority you'll find a way. If it isn't, you'll find an excuse." Jim Rohn

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This is my last post for this 2024 year, and I'll close with this simple thought on priorities that kinds of wraps it all up.

Jim Rohn says it so well that you'd can't argue with it....priorities are what you focus on to accomplish. Everything else is extra.

It's easy to get tired of excuses, but the reality is that the excuse is simply helping to defining the priority.

Think about your current priorities:

• Do you find yourself constantly thinking about them?

• Do you make time to work on them in your schedule?

• Do you feel pressure to focus and accomplish them?

• Is it hard to turn your brain off and think about something else?

Yes, priorities can be obsessive. That's why it's a priority.

In fact, the definition of priority is this:

"A thing that is regarded as more important than another"

Stop making excuses for having priorities. This is a good thing. You just need to learn how to communicate them to those around you.

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Stephen Covey

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This quote might hit a little close to home, but there's some hard truth in this.

We've gotten used to simply saying that we're busy, and we believe that. We run from one thing to another, and we blame work, relationships, our family or any other number of things. We actually blame others for the fact that we're busy.

However, it's not a matter of being busy. It's a matter of priorities. We make choices everyday based on our priorities.

This might include the people we want to spend time with, the events we choose to participate In and many other obligations.

Yes, sometimes things are pressed on us, but I would argue that the number of things that we are "forced to do" doesn't compare with the freedom we have over our lives and our schedule.

We're in the Christmas Season, and we're already grumbling about our schedules and the chaos of the season.

STOP.

Take a deep breath and make some decisions based on what's important to you, now because of everyone else's expectations.

Now, before you cancel on that Christmas Party you really don't want to go to, realize that we do have obligations and there are things that we "need to do", but don't let those dominate your life and your schedule.

Find balance.

As you look at the next 2 weeks, what's ONE THING that is a priority to you that you really want to incorporate into your life and schedule?

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Stephen Covey

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

It's December, the last month of 2024. Over the past few months we've talked about INFLUENCE, VISION, and STRATEGY. I thought I'd end the year with a few quotes on the topic of PRIORITIES.

You can read past blogs HERE.

This is a "classic Covey quote". If you've read any of his books or heard him speak in the past, he talks a lot about priorities.

I remember reading his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in graduate school, and I had never heard or understood the concept Covey lays out in his 3rd Habit: Put First Things First.

The simple idea of Quadrant II Leadership is all about priorities. Covey talks about how we allow urgent and not important things to get in the way of the things that are really important, and these things are classified as Important and Not Urgent.

Most of us live in Quadrant I which is full of Urgent and Important things, but it's often driven by crisis and problems which results in stress and burn-out.

Read the book. He explains it so much better.

Quadrant II living is a life where priorities help you focus on aspects of prevention, proactive problem solving, relationship building and planning.

As to Covey's quote above? He's saying that if we aren't guided by priorities, we'll be guided by our schedule.

How do you handle priorities in your life and do they make it to your schedule first?