Prioritize for Happiness

We know what we want to do, but we just don’t get around to doing it. Our daily activities may get in the way or we may get overwhelmed and avoid doing the thing we wanted to do because the things we had to do took up too much of our mental or physical energy. We have to prioritize what we want because what we want is just as important as what we are obligated to do. 

Maybe we are so out of touch with our needs that we aren’t even sure where to begin. Make a list of things you want to do as they pop into your mind. As you start considering this more, it will become easier and easier. Nothing lofty or expensive, just simple, attainable things. For example, go for a hike, plant some flowers, go to the local antique store, or finally go to the local art walk. Set a day and a back-up day for this. Just once per week, prioritize yourself.

Life has many different areas that come together to form our sense of overall content or discontent. Be sure to group these areas of your life and make sure no area is going neglected that matters to you. For example, our lives include social interactions, family/community connectedness, career, education, hobbies, physical health, mental health, adventure… ask yourself what matters to you and list all the things you do in a typical month that go into each category. Then, see if one is lacking and ask yourself if that’s okay. This will help you steer the course of how you spend your time. If educational fulfillment is what matters most to you right now, find a way to devote more time in that area. After a few months, you will see the greatest return on investment from the areas you gave the most attention to. Be intentional with how you spend your time and you can develop whichever areas you want. This should help with your sense of control over your life and your sense of fulfillment.

Schedule by Intention

Everyone has a busy schedule and sometimes the day slips by without us knowing where our time went. This results in minimal progress simply because we may be caught up in day-to-day habits without stopping to consider what is best for the long term. Is what you’re doing today going to amount to something in 1 year? Or will it be lost? A small step each day in the direction we want to go in will get us there in a balanced and sustainable way.

A standard schedule does not work for everyone because life gets in the way and things get pushed back repeatedly until we simply forget about them. Scheduling intentions allows flexibility without the guilt if those things are not accomplished in the way we hoped. Simply block out a time that you are going to dedicate to your goal. Even if you only accomplish something small during that time, you still took a step in the right direction. There are many small steps behind every big result.

Establish your intentions by setting daily minimums to alleviate the feeling that we did not accomplish enough at the end of the day or that the day slipped by. Break down all the different areas of your life. Now, what do you have to do in order to maintain each of them? For example, you may need to do 3 chores a day to maintain your home, send 1 text to a friend and 1 text to a family member to let them know you’re thinking of them, and study/ network/research for 1 hour to keep up with school or career development, and 30 minutes for physical fitness. This is just a basic example of how to delegate intention to maintain all the aspects of your life. What time you check off these daily minimums can adjust to your changing schedule, but at the end of the day, you’ll know all areas of your life are on track and heading in the right direction. Ask yourself where you want to be in a year and set time aside to grow that area. Don’t worry about your scheduled obligations! They will always be there but your time will not. You must have presence in where you are going or you will stay exactly where you are. In a year, you will be able to see how 30 minutes a day has added up and what it has amounted to.