TIME: Get More by Re-Evaluating Priorities

I don't always have time. But when I do, I nap. Photo by Angelina Litvin on Unsplash

PRIORITY.

You've heard the word, but what does it really mean?

Image Credit: Google

Priorities are the things which are most important in your life; they drive your decisions and subsequent actions.

Great. Now that you know exactly what the word means, name the top priorities in your life.

(Can you do it easily, or are you racking your brain a little?)

Here's the thing about priorities: they change over time, so you have to be willing to re-evaluate them on a regular basis. If you don't, you'll continue engaging in an activity even though that activity is no longer serving a purpose in your life, aka - you'll be wasting your time.

What's the best way to re-evaluate priorities?

By asking: Is this thing I'm doing still serving its intended purpose?

In order to identify whether or not something should remain a priority in your life, you have to determine what its intended purpose for implementation was - a.k.a. why you decided to do the thing in the first place.

Once you've identified why you decided to do the thing, you need to ask yourself whether the thing you're doing is still serving that intended purpose that you needed it to fulfill.

Any activity you engage in, you do so with the idea that it fulfills some sort of need for you; the need defines the purpose.

In order to assess whether something should remain a priority in your life, you have to identify what the need is that the activity is fulfilling.

Need, need, need. What do I need? Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash

PERSONAL EXAMPLE: I had a second job for over a year.

There were two reasons I got a second job; two needs that the job had to fulfill.

1 - TIME - It had to fill time, because I had so much of it.

When I first started the job, I wasn't writing as much, I was single, and my social life was sporadic (because all of my friends are in couples). I was looking for something that would fill some of my time.

2 - MONEY - It had to solve a specific financial problem: COVID debt.

I was unemployed for 13-months during COVID and had racked-up some debt. On the income I was making at my full-time job, paying off that debt would have taken a few years. I was looking for extra income in order to pay off what I owed as quickly as possible.

Those were the two needs that the job had to fulfill.

Feed me. Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash

Fast forward to more than a year after starting that second job, and a re-evaluation of the intended purpose for implementation.

1 - TIME - My social life was still sporadic. But, I was dedicating more time to my writing and I was in a relationship. Those two things alone took-up the extra time I'd had when I started the job.

In this case, I still had the need - things to fill my time with - but other things had come along which fulfilled that same need. (The writing and the relationship.)

2 - MONEY - By working two jobs, I was able to pay off the balance of what I owed. Now I could have kept the job, because extra money is always nice. But the intended purpose was to pay off the debt, and that had been accomplished.

In this case, I no longer had the need - money to solve a specific financial problem - because the problem had been solved.

If you like a good flow-chart as much as I do, see below for an illustrated example of what I've just explained:

Image Credit: Author

In evaluating the initial purpose for implementation, the second job I had was no longer fulfilling the needs that had caused me to get the job in the first place.

My time was being fulfilled by other things.

My financial problem no longer existed.

The two purposes for having the job no longer applied.

And that's why I quit.

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WHY WE NEED TO RE-EVALUATE PRIORITIES

It's really easy to just keep doing things because we've been doing them. We have our habits, we get into our little routines, and we don't question what we're doing.

But we have to question regularly in order to purge activities and commitments, otherwise our lives become overwhelmingly busy. We end up living at a frantic pace and feeling as though we just don't have time for anything.

The solution to is to ask if the things we're doing are still serving their intended purpose for implementation.

If they're not, then it's time to let them go.

 

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Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

- Semisonic: Closing Time 

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Sometimes you gotta let go. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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You might be asking yourself "How does this topic relate to recovery from binge-eating?" What I found is that - for me - finding new ways of thinking about life and its challenges helped me to stop stress-eating, and has been a very big part of my ability to stop binge-eating.

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For more on changing your mindset and imagining good things click ⭐ here ⭐ to get my guide on Visualizations — yours FREE with subscription to my site.

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