“Action expresses priorities…” – Mahatma Gandhi
What a wonderful quote. This one idea summarizes all the advice anyone needs for being successful. Action is something that we talk about frequently on this page, but in the end it all comes down to this idea of priorities. We can all say that we want to be healthy, or lose weight, or change the way we eat, but in the end, if it is not a priority, it will not happen.
What I think we can learn from this idea is that before setting off to accomplish any goal, we must first take a good hard look at what our priorities are, and how we express those through our actions. One very effective way to do this is to keep an activity log dictating what you spend your time doing. You can do this for just one day, or even better, 3-5 days. Once you have this, it makes it much easier to see what your priorities really are. If you say that exercise is important, but spend more time watching TV than in the gym, maybe fitness is not so important after all. If you say eating well is important, but you eat out 5 days a week, again, maybe you need to reflect on if this is really a priority at this moment.
This is not to say that any of these things HAVE to be your priority, but it is important to at least acknowledge where your priorities lie so that you can chose your next move. If you realize that you do spend more time watching TV than at the gym, then you have a choice. You can either decide that you would rather enjoy your favorite shows than reach your fitness goal, or, you put in the effort with your training and limit the time on the couch. There is no right answer, but this is something that each one of us must face if we hope to be successful in our lives and our goals.
If you have been trying to make a change, but are struggling to do so, perhaps this will be a good way to kick start your efforts. Start by establishing what your goals are (health related or otherwise). Then determine which areas of your life you need to prioritize. This could be exercise, sleep, reading, networking, saving, cooking, spending time with family, etc. Then list these in order from most important to least. Now that you have this, all you need is your activity log.
Spend the next few days jotting down everything you do, and how much time you spend on it. The more specific the better—if you spent 10 minutes on Facebook scanning your news feed, it goes on the log! Once you have this written out, take note of how much time you actually spent on your top priorities. Look at how much time you spent elsewhere. It can be truly amazing how much time and energy we devote to activities that are in no way conducive to our goals or our priorities, yet we let these activities rob us of our time every day! The good news: now that you have this in front of you, you can make the changes necessary to align your time with those things that are most important with you.
Do your actions express your priorities?
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