Set your priorities for the new year

You ever have one of those moments in life when you know you are on the wrong path but you lack the clarity to find the right one? Perhaps you’ve wondered how much better life would be if you went back to school knowing everything you know now. Now I’m not talking about what companies to invest in or who will win the next 25 super bowls. Instead think about the life lessons — those things that are truly important and how you’ve spent so much time moving away from them, avoiding them. Everyday at work I spend some time helping to mentor people and move them in the right direction.

Why should my family be any different?

While cleaning up my desk (at home), I ran across some notes I had written. About a month ago I sat down with two of my kids and did a little exercise. The content and the direction I took from many different sources, but overall the approach is mine. It’s designed to help you refine what you do (today) compared with what you want to do (tomorrow).

Visualize the target

I now share with you the steps I walked the kids through. Overall it took about two hours and I was very surprised (and proud) at their level of attention and participation. My next goals is to find a way to help them remember to refer to the plans they created and update them periodically.

1. List out your activities right now.
   • Examples:
     • Brush teeth and shower
     • Go to class
     • Go to work
2. Review the list, update as appropriate
   • Hint: Walk through a typical week, include everything during the course of a day; think about hobbies, organizations and volunteer efforts
3. Categorize the activities with general names
   • Examples:
     • Personal Health: Brush teeth, shower, eating meals,
     • Faith: Church, Bible Study, Bible Reading, Small Group, Praying
     • Education: Attend class, Study, Reading
     • Career: Complete Degree, Hands-on Training, Internship
4. Are there categories missing?
   • Example: no category for Career, but you know you’ll need a permanent job
5. Rank the categories in the order of importance (as you think of today)
6. Rank the categories in the order of importance (for where you want to be in the future)
7. Order all categories based on future ranking
8. Add all activities into each category
9. Are you missing activities that you need to do?
   • Example: nothing listed under Faith means you may need to start doing Bible Reading or attending a Study
10. Look at where you are today and where you want to be in the future.
    • Develop a plan to close the gap and get you where you want to be.

This is not an exercise that should be used on younger children as they lack they ability to truly visualize a complete list of activities or understand what their future looks like. If the whole thing looks to daunting during a single sitting, then break it up. Do it over several days (or weeks). Challenge yourself or your children to work through it in order to grow a specific aspect of their life or to really get their whole life where they want it.

With the proper focus and the right attention you can make a change for the better in the life of someone you love.

  This article has been Digiproved © 2010