I often hear folks say ‘I just didn’t have time‘ or ‘I don’t have time for that.’ This is language that I am guilty of using too. But the problem with this language is 99 percent of the time…it’s just not true.
But wait a second….are you calling me a liar? Sort of!
There are two ways this isn’t true:
- We aren’t as busy as we think we are…
- We do have time, we just prioritized something else.
And it’s this second point that I really want to focus on. It’s like this – instead of saying ‘I was too busy to get my long run in this weekend’ it should sound more like ‘I prioritized sleep and spending time with my children this weekend so I wasn’t able to get my long run in.’ So there was time, it’s just that I had other higher ranking priorities…great!
Where we need to be on high alert is for instances when we ‘didn’t have time’ but actually did have time and prioritized less important endeavours (mostly this is where you are staring at a screen).
I have a working theory that I call ‘prioritizing my priorities.’ (So simple, right?)
This can actually be harder than it seems. It all starts with actually knowing what your priorities are. You should be clear on this!
Mine are: Family, Health and Happiness.
So let’s test the system: Going to my cousin’s out of town wedding. Ok, I would really like to go, sounds fun. How does this align with my priorities? I would get to spend time with my extended family, but then I’d spend time away from my kids. Winter travel is often the time I can catch a bug and get sick. It would be fun for sure, but in the end I think I would return home more tired and perhaps even not able to complete my scheduled running training. Ok, sounds like a ‘no go’ for the wedding.
So my homework for you all – figure out what your priorities are and attempt to align your actions with those priorities. Spoiler: it’s not easy.
