Sometimes I wake up in the morning overwhelmed with things to do and they all seem so important. I feel paralyzed because I’m not sure which is most important.
Often I stop to make a list of things that are important to me, which is a very foundational step. But I find myself doing this over and over again. “Family, House, Finances, Health, Church, Creativity…” and so on. The list isn’t always the same but pretty close. So why do I have to keep making this list?
Even as I do it, I wonder, “What happened to my other lists that I have made?” I’m sure they are a on a piece of random paper floating around in my stacks of paper somewhere.
So the other day, I created a form on my computer so that I can just answer a few questions to myself and create the list quickly every time I feel the need to regroup. These questions are as follows:
“What do I value?”
“What are the different areas of my life I need to focus on?”
“If I live to be 80 years old, how do I want to spend those years?”
“What do I not want to waste time on?”
“What do I want to accomplish in the next ten years?”
“What do I want to accomplish this year?”
“What do I want to work on this month?”
“What can I do this week to work toward these things?”
“What can I do today to work toward these things?”
I can fill out this page every time I feel the need to regroup. And I can keep them all together in a folder on my desktop and compare them to each other. I can also reference them whenever I need to prioritize my to-do list.
My hope is that, over time, I can refine my lists down to my core values and my dreams for the future, combining them onto one page that I can reference easily. This is my plan to help me solidify what is most important to me and simplify my daily planning and prioritizing.