The Priority Compass

Would you like to have less stress in your life and feel more at peace? Would you like to do things that you’re passionate about more often and spend more time with the people in your life who you love? The tool that has helped me do all of those things is the Priority Compass. Your future is up to you. The majority of times in our life it feels like we’re living our lives based on other people's priorities, and doing the things that other people want us to do. You need to take control of your own life and create your own future, you can do this by finding out what your priorities are and using them to guide your life.

The first thing you need to do is find out what your priorities are. Brainstorm and create a list of everything you care about. Think of the things that drive you, things that keep you up at night, or just things that you care about. The list can be sloppy, it doesn’t matter, just get everything written down.

Once you have your list, organize them in an order of the things that are most important to you down to those that are least important. Everybody’s list is going to look different, because everyone is unique and has different priorities. Personally, one of the things at the top of my list is spending time with my wife and my family, as well as encouraging others to live their lives to the max, and of course, chasing my passions. Be honest with yourself and don’t rank your priorities in the way that you think society would want you to put them, rank them how you want to rank them.

Now that you have everything ranked, you can move on to using them to guide your life. Back before people had GPS systems, they would use compasses for directions, you can use your priorities as a personal compass. When you get an opportunity to do something, look at your list of priorities and see how the opportunity aligns with them. Then say yes to the opportunity if it aligns with the majority of your priorities and if it fits in your schedule. If it doesn’t align with your priorities or doesn’t fit in your schedule, say no to the opportunity. This can be hard, because many of us are people pleasers, and we want to say yes to people and help them out. Trust me, I know it’s hard. I was and still struggle with being a people pleaser. However, even if you think you’re being helpful by taking opportunities that you can’t fit in your schedule, or don’t fit your priorities, that could actually be harmful. If you take an opportunity that you won’t be able to put your all into, you’re taking away that opportunity from somebody else that might want to do it more, and might be able to do it better because it fits them more. At first this process of checking your list may take time, but you’ll get faster at it as you begin to remember what your priorities are, and where they fall in your rankings, and this process will help you live a more fulfilling life.

I would love to hear what you think about the Priority Compass and how to live your life to the fullest! Please send me a message on social media at @Jonesinfor or email me at spencer@spencermjones.com. Be sure to check out previous episodes on ways to help maximize your time and living your life to the max!