What are your priorities? What is most important to you? I was attending a presentation one time and the speaker said, “Wherever you spend most of your time is what is most important to you.” You have probably heard this before, too. At the time, I was twenty-five years old, spending many, many hours growing my chiropractic practice. I was also newly married to my beautiful wife. I was conflicted, thinking that I cared more about my career than my new wife. It affected us both. So naturally, I thought, huh? The speaker went on to make the argument for passive income. You know, work two hours a week and become a millionaire. He went on to say that if you are spending more time at work than with your family, then you must not love your family as much as you love your job. Again, I thought, huh?
Have you heard the statement, conflict equals clarity? Well, after that talk, I got real clear. Folks, we can have equal priorities. I repeat, we can have equal priorities. I mean, come on, what is most important to you: your right eye or your left eye? They both are!
Some priorities in life are going to take more time than others, depending on what stage of life we are at and what the current situation is at the time. For example, my top priorities are: God, Health, Family, and Wealth. Depending on my current situation these bounce around all of the time in order of time importance. The key is to keep them in continuous balance and understand when one is falling too short or being neglected. Have you heard, whatever you don’t respect, you lose? It’s a good one to follow.
Depending on your current situation, your time commitment to your priorities will change in order of immediate importance. For example, let’s look at different situations you may be in. If you are growing your business, keep your spouse happy! “Honey, I am going to be working late tonight and for the next three Thursdays due to important meetings. Can we change our date night to Friday these next few weeks instead of our regular Thursday?” Did this mean that your job is more important than your spouse? No! They are both important.
“Boss man, my son is playing his championship game this Saturday. Can I get the work done from home and still have it to you by the deadline?” Does this mean that your family is more important than your wealth in this situation? No! They both are important.
We can balance out our priorities. You can have it all and you can get what you want! I’m sure you have heard about the rich man in the hospital bed saying he wished he had spent more time with his family. That is really sad. That is an example of being unbalanced and confused on priorities.
Using my priority examples, God, Health, Family, Wealth, it is all about balance and keeping them all important. Don’t fall into guilt by not keeping them in this exact priority. Hey, if you are on your deathbed, yes, you can put these in order: God, Health, Family, Wealth. If you are living everyday life, they will bounce around, and with proper communication and proactive planning, it will all work out.