How and why your weaknesses, not your priorities, determine how you spend time
Have you ever had a day that you did not complete the priorities you had in mind to accomplish? Sure, we all have. Perhaps most days are like this.
If your priorities were not completed, what did you choose to do instead? Time continued progressing. It does not kindly put itself on hold for you to attend to non-intended matters. You spent your time doing something. If not in pursuit of your priorities, did you spend time on less important tasks or distractions? Was there a more comfortable, easy, or less risky option that you settled for?
I do not mean to suggest that every task you engage in is a choice you get to make. Emergencies happen. Bosses dictate moments. Sometimes, external deadlines are unavoidable. However, consider just how many minutes of your day succumb to unplanned moments of watching television, attending to emails, scanning a social media feed, or planning action versus doing.
When you choose to divert from your goal, the reason is most often because you met mental resistance and the willpower you needed to push through to overcoming fell short.
This does not reflect a lack of importance to your priorities, nor your wanting to see those tasks and goals accomplished. Rather, it just means it may be time for some strength training.
Like physical fitness, your mental fitness can greatly benefit from intentional and regular exercise.
So, spend some time on mindfulness training. Focus your attention on the outcome you desire to reach in fulfilling your priorities. What is the destination you want to reach? What does it look like? Why is important? What is the reward to you and/or others when you will complete what you set out to accomplish? Then, recommit and push forward again. For some specific mindset training, check out Melissa Brown’s “4 steps to following through on commitments.”
Full disclosure…it was a priority of mine to write this post today, yet I met considerable resistance along the way. My mind and attention were repeatedly diverted to nearby distractions. Yet, my desire to help others bolstered the willpower I needed to push through to completing this task. Nonetheless, considerable time was wasted. We all need support. I hope you found this to be helpful to you.
What resistors will you overcome today? Please feel free to share your inspiring story for others to benefit from.
If you desire additional mindset training, please let me know at JimWashok.com. I’ll be glad to discuss with you and see if I can be of assistance.
If you enjoyed this article, you might want to also read…
How to get more done by allowing less time to get things done
Thrive with a Minute Mortality Mindset
