How to Focus on Your Priorities — Stop Making Excuses How Busy You Are

As we progress in our careers the demands on time increase substantially—our schedules get packed with more meetings, more family responsibilities, more social obligations—the list goes on. We keep telling others how busy we are, how we need more hours in the day. What are our priorities?

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” ―Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Life is a Matter of Priorities

The truth of the matter is life is a matter of priorities. Alternatively, priorities come into play when choices can be made. We must make individual decisions to make our lives move. How smoothly our lives move forward, or how much troublesome journey it leads to, depends on our priorities rather than the “correctness” of our decision. Nothing is right or wrong. However, it is a matter of our priorities!

When I talk about priorities, I mean something is essential, or it is not crucial. We intuitively figure it out without a 1, 2, 3 – A, B, C type of prioritization code system. Identify what is vital to you apply your attention to that.

Action expresses priorities.” ―Mahatma Gandhi

What Are Your Aspirations?

In developing a strategy, the first of our five interlinked question is “What are our broad aspirations for our organization and the concrete goals against which we can measure our progress?” You need to be clear on your broad aspirations to set priorities. Life unfolds and always has crossroads, forcing us to choose to take one or the other ways.

If you choose everything, you're really just choosing nothing. So, to protect the things that matter most, you have to shed the things that matter less.”—Bradley Tusk, Founder and CEO, Tusk Ventures and Tusk Strategies

We have to choose a particular path, walking on that path, making sure that decisions under the pressure of circumstances or for the sake of betterment are just a way of life. Those decisions decide what we are, what we stand for and what stands for us first.

Whatever we choose now, wanting it or not, we may have to embrace it for the rest of our lives. What is idealistic may not be equal to what suits us best. It is possible that the road less travelled might be the right road for us.

Fate is how your life unfolds when you let fear determine your choices. A path of destiny reveals itself to you, however, when you confront your fear and make conscious choices.” ―Caroline Myss

Life is Just a Reflection of Our Priorities

We need to stop telling each other how busy we are. The reality is that we have control over our time. We choose what we do and who we interact with daily. When we tell others were "too busy," what we are saying is that we are spending our time doing things we believe we have to do rather than spending time doing what we want to do.

 Nobody is too busy; it is just a matter of priorities.”

I have previously written that you must have an open mind to be lucky.  Lucky people don’t magically attract new opportunities and good fortune. They stroll along with their eyes fully open. They are present in the moment (a problem for people glued to phone screens). Anything that affects our physical or emotional ability to take in our environment also affects our so-called “luckiness”—anxiety, for one. Anxiety physically and emotionally closes us off to chance opportunities.

Imagine all the opportunities you have missed because you were "too busy," being "busy.” We all need to stop concentrating on how little time we must do the things we want and start focusing on the freedom to choose. When we do this, we quickly identify what we enjoy and make choices that allow us to do those things. We determine our purpose.

Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” ―Stephen R. Covey

What Makes Some Companies Wildly Successful today?

The companies that figure it out have something in common: their pursuit of purpose, alongside their quest for profit. Our model for success focuses on engaging the workforce and satisfying customers. The result is increasing shareholders’ value. A compelling purpose inspires staff and customers in a way that pursuing profits alone never will. For a company to thrive, it infuses its purpose in all that it does.

An organization without purpose manages people and resources, while an organization with purpose inspires its people and mobilizes its resources. Purpose is an essential ingredient for a healthy, sustainable, scalable organizational culture. It is an ever-present element that drives an organization.

When you stop making excuses for yourself, you will realize how much time you actually have to dedicate to your purpose, and you can start spending your time making positive changes in ways that matter to you.”—Dawn Strobel, Go By Truck Inc.

Dawn Strobel has Go By Truck focused on purpose, integrity, and respect. The trucking industry is infamous for dishonesty, and for the exploitation of others. I am familiar with the industry as my father had a trucking company as I was growing up. That’s where I learned that taking care of your employees and your customers is the right path to business success.

It was great to read that Go By Truck is building their organization around a team of people who are committed to Go By Truck's mission and to make a positive change in the transportation industry. Ms. Strobel’s employees are excited about what they do every day. This focus creates high morale and keeps team members focused on the company's goals.

From a business perspective, the better you pay and treat your employees, the harder they will work. However, even beyond just not being pennywise, pound-foolish, how you treat your employees (their pay, their benefits, the office environment, the culture) reflects your values. I do not support the notion that you are one person at work and another at home.

Don’t Lose Touch

As a leader overpacking your schedule can cause you to lose touch with your team and to lose trust with those that depend on you. It is vital to keep a pulse on the daily activities of your units and to make sure everyone has the support they need to allow them to surpass their personal and professional goals.

Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.” ―Dallin H. Oaks

Stop Making Excuses

I have removed "too busy," from my vocabulary. I focus on being 100% present with whomever I am with at the time. The opportunity to replicate that exact place and time is not possible. So, I make the most of it.

When we stop making excuses for ourselves, we realize how much time we must dedicate to our purpose. We can spend our time making positive changes in ways that matter to us.

Not only will this make you feel more fulfilled, but you will also be much more successful in accomplishing your goals. So, stop saying, "I'm too busy," and start doing what you want and doing it with passion. Whichever road we choose, whatever decisions we make will lead us to a place, and only that place has the strength to decide that what we did was right or wrong, good or bad.

Thanks to Dawn Strobel, President, and Co-Founder, Go By Truck for her LinkedIn post that inspired this insight.