If it's Important to You...

​If it’s important to you, you will find a way. Otherwise, you will find an excuse.
The story of my life…

Sometimes, something that was once important to us slips off the top of the importance list.
There are times when it’s okay if it needs to drop down a notch or two. Severe illness, surgery, grief…  Almost slyly, quietly, this is when excuses will sneak into that important top position. Their cunning rationalizations slowly getting louder and louder in our thoughts.

“You can sleep in…”
“Skipping one day won’t hurt your progress…”
“One bite, just to taste…”
“I’m strong enough to resist…”

Excuses will stealthily overtake every stronghold of importance we have built, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  It’s cunning temptations will topple even the seemingly strongest of us.

So, how do we stay strong (so to speak)?
How do we keep what’s so important to us at the top of our priorities?

First, please remember that aiming for perfection is what causes people to stay stuck. Instead, plan strategies that will step by step move you in the right direction. Also, it’s good to remember this phrase, “When you succeed in planning, then plan to succeed.” (I never cared for the failure counterpart phrase.)

The strategies you use don’t have to require immense effort. Applying too high of standards, and mulling over past failures or weaknesses will topple what’s important to you and slow or stall your progress.

Here are 4 strategies for keeping what’s important to you firmly at the top:

* Focus on learning from past successes
Identify what you’ve already done really well. You have talents! You were born with gifts and abilities intended to help you progress. If you’re not sure what they are, or how to use them, then ask— a loved one, a good friend, or even in prayer. The answers are within you, I promise. Then, try to focus on improving by 1% rather than being totally perfect.

* Schedule Important Tasks, and Give Yourself Way More Time Than You’ll Need
Research shows that scheduling when and where you’ll do something makes it dramatically more likely that the task will get done. Unfamiliar but important tasks often have a learning curve that makes how much time they’ll take to complete unpredictable. Give yourself extra time, clear time and space, especially at the beginning, and then as it becomes more familiar you can reassess the allotted time.

* Spend Less Time on Unimportant Tasks
Before you know it, you’ve spent an hour on an unimportant task. They have a nasty tendency of taking up way more time than they should. Give yourself a time limit for how long you’ll spend on these tasks.  Also, taking more breaks can help stop you going down the rabbit hole of spending a lot of time on unimportant things without realizing that’s what you’re doing.
It’s also been shown to be helpful to make a quick decision on unimportant tasks rather than a “perfect” one.

* Pay Attention to What Helps You See (and Track) the Big Picture
Be aware of your Big Picture, your ultimate goals, including who you are striving to become. Then tracking your progress will help you pay attention to and optimize your situation. In other words, keeping what’s important on top. The more you track, the more details you include, the more accurate and honest you are, the more you are writing what I call the Encyclopedia of You.  It’s incredibly educational and a fascinating read!
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One of the best ways you can keep that Big Picture in your mind’s eye is to stay connected with others who share this same view and goals. Giving each other updates on what you’ve been doing has a powerful influence on keeping what’s important to you “first things first”. Give yourself time after these interactions to figure out how you’re going to translate your insights into specific plans and actions.

How to focus on what is most important, and stop self-sabotaging with excuses and rationalizations I still struggle with much of the time. Psychologist and author Alice Boyes considers success as “taking my own advice at least 50% of the time! This is a reasonable rule of thumb that you might adopt, too.”

If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way!

~ Elizabeth
Guiding You to Living a Nourished Life
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(The strategies I have adapted from PhD psychologist Alice Boyes’ article from Harvard Business Review, along with my own experiences and thoughts interwoven.)

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