Stop Lying to yourself: You can’t do it all

Why choosing only three priorities will skyrocket your success.

I used to think saying yes to hard things was evidence that I was on the path to success.

I was kidding myself.

I was only making myself busy and giving myself unhelpful stress. This article will walk you through clarifying your priorities to skyrocket your success.

Quick note before we jump into the article:

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Choosing Only 3 Priorities

The first step to taking control of our lives is clarifying our priorities. Priorities create a filter for our lives to help us determine what aspects of our lives are working for us or adding unnecessary stress.

I’d invite you to write out everything that is important to you. Don’t worry about narrowing it down to three yet. Which relationships, things, or goals are most important to you?

There are no wrong answers. Get all your thoughts on paper.

Once you have your list, read over it and identify which items are most important. You will probably group some things together, and that’s okay. For example, I’ve grouped my relationship with my wife and kids into one bullet point.

You can rank order them if you’d like, but you need to narrow it down to only three priorities. The number 3 comes from this great quote by Jim Collins.

“If you have more than three priorities, then you don’t have any.”

I’ve found limiting my priorities can be an emotional experience. By choosing three and only three priorities, you are accepting that you are willing to sacrifice everything else on that list for the three priorities.

Take the needed time to process these emotions.

With your three selected priorities, you are ready for the next step.

Audit How You Spend Your Time

Now set your list of three priorities aside, and I want you to create a new list of activities you spent time on the last seven days. What did you spend time doing?

Refrain from judging the activities as you write. Just get them on paper. Did you spend time on your health, with family, watching sports, serving others, working?

This process doesn’t take long but will empower you to really get honest with yourself.

With your two lists created, you should quickly see how well your actions align with your priorities. Asking yourself these questions may help:

• Where are you spending the majority of your time? Does that serve one or more of your priorities?
• Do you spend time on anything that takes away from your three priorities?

Please don’t fall into the trap of judging yourself through this process. I’ve been there, and I promise it isn’t helpful.

You were doing the best you could. Be excited about your new potential rather than annoyed by your previous mistakes. Be grateful you have your past to learn from and motivate you in the future.

Make Bold Changes

Now comes the fun part. You have the choice, more than ever before, to change your life to align with your priorities. You have the power today to change your life.

Bold changes feel scary, but please do not feel forced to do it. I am not telling you what to do. It is your life. You can always stay where you are right now if you so choose. But I think we can both agree you have the potential for more. So much more.

Do you want to achieve that higher potential? I promise you are more ready than you think you are.

I challenge you to identify one bold change to make in your life and then work on it this week. Evaluate in 7 days and see how it goes.

Please remember that there will be ups and downs. There always is when we try to make changes in our lives. Breaking a bad habit that is no longer serving us will take effort. You will likely have some symptoms of withdrawal. Growing pains are always associated with bold change.

Plan for this as best you can and determine how you process those feelings in a healthy way.

Final Thoughts

Changing our lives is the most amazing experience we can strive for in this life. We all have the power to change more rapidly than we ever could have imagined.

I’d encourage you to include your higher power in this process. God wants what is best for you.

You’ve got this!

Thanks for reading! Please follow me here on Medium for more articles about making the most of your life. Clap or Comment below to let me know if you found this valuable. I would also love any feedback on my writing that you may have. I am new to this and ready to make a change based on any constructive feedback. Thanks! -Alma Thurber