To me, living life with purpose is what makes it special. Give your life meaning—organize a list of priorities! Don’t just do it for you—do it for your family! Without organization you have chaos. No matter how positive you are, if you don’t have some kind of organization and plan for your day, time will become your enemy. You’ll wind up spending the day trying to figure out what you should be doing and where you should be directing your efforts. As a result, you will have basically wasted the day away and accomplished little or nothing.
You have to begin by first deciding what’s important to you. Organize a list that prioritizes those things according to their significance in your life. Even if you’ve never taken the time to make one up before, do it now. You can update it over and over as often as your circumstances change. Recognize that everyone’s list is going to be a little bit different. Maybe your list contains things like:
- Earning a good income to be able to afford your needs and wants.
- Providing a safe, secure, and comfortable home for your family.
- Providing proper health care for your family’s well-being.
- Making time for family activities, such as religious services and vacations.
- Supporting your children’s education and other interests, such as sports or music.
- Setting aside special time for you and your partner.
- Scheduling time for your personal interests and hobbies.
If you don’t make up a list like this, you’re going to find yourself wandering aimlessly through life without any real reason for existing. When I talk about organized planning, I’m talking about organizing for success. I had a plan and nothing got in the way of me working that plan every day. Effective use of time is critical to achieve your goals. Success comes faster to those who plan for it. Having an organized plan is a must for efficient use of time. And that’s one of the major keys to success.
We all have 1,440 minutes in a 24 hour day. Make every minute count! Once you’ve spent your 1,440 minutes, it’s gone. You can’t spend it anymore. Think of yesterday as a canceled check; think of tomorrow as a promissory note—time you’ve got coming to you. If you give several tasks the same priority, your “first things first” approach becomes unglued. Worse you will lose whatever focus you had on your days work. So, know for sure where you’re going. Define and organize your priorities, make a plan and then take the right steps to get you there. As long as you plan where you’re going ahead of time, and know where you’re going, you’ll get there!
