The Key to Priorities: (Audio)
When you wake in the morning, what’s the first thing you do? Second? Third? Do you have a standard routine and what happens when that routine breaks? What happens when you have an early morning emergency, or traffic jam, or a power outage that trips all the alarms useless?
We all have situations that wreck our schedule, and we seldom have the sense of mind or adequately take the time to rearrange accordingly. The reaction to the moment kickstarts the day and we wind up reacting all day long!
Think about it for a moment. You never know how to reschedule your day if you have never had a negative start to your day. If your world is always peachy perfect, then you do not know what you will do when it starts to get ugly! You’ve not learned how you will respond, nor have you grasped what is required to get back on track.
Perhaps this is why soldiers, first responders, and so many others have their prep time. They are training for the really bad times.
German military strategist Helmuth von Moltke is noted as saying, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”
Essentially, what you plan for in the boardroom gets tossed in the first moments of the battle.
Do you remember your dreams? I woke this morning, several different times, and it seems each time I had a particular memory of a dream. It seems to be happening a lot lately. This morning, I dreamed of building a building and all the intricate steps and planning that takes place to get the plans, permits, craftsman, supplies, the order of events, and the assembly that leads to the end product.
Question: What you do if something goes wrong in the process?
Imagine, what do you do when you find out the widget doesn’t fit and it will require a special order to complete the project?
How do you reorder the project activities to keep priorities properly prioritized? Do your priorities change? What is now at the head of your list? How easy is it to shuffle your plans to meet the new issue? Are you sure it’s all lined up the way you need it?
Think with me a moment. What was once at the top of your priority list may now be at the bottom. When you were young you thought you had all the time in the world to prepare for retirement. When you are closer to that retirement age, you realize too late how important your priorities of youth should have prepared for this day!
What was not very important may now be moved to the Urgent category.
How do you differentiate between what you should be doing, and what desperately needs to be done?
Stephen Covey says, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule but to schedule your priorities.” Isn’t that what we do, often, without realizing it? The car won’t start. Quick what’s your first priority? Keep cranking the key, trying to get the car running? Call for a tow? Get a ride to work? Call to handle the kids after school event? Check the weather forecast? What’s the first thing you MUST do on your scheduled list of priorities for the day? Now, what do you do next?
What happens when a tragedy strikes as it did in Texas yesterday? Or Nevada last month? Well. This is the ultimate test of how you rearrange your life to a new set of priorities. Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing is crucially part of our life every day. What’s your real focus?
Knowing what's important is key. Share on XPerhaps this is why it’s important to have your strategies in place to help you in the day of trouble. We have them around our world. You know, drills that help us respond appropriately when we have Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Floods, Fires, etc… I remember my kids learning, “Stop. Drop. And roll.” as the key to survival if their clothes were on fire. Add to these natural events perhaps we need to add war, terrorist and mental cases to our strategy lists.
We should all have a strategy on how you will react dependent upon the time of day, your location, and where the event occurs.
Even more important, you should have a spiritual strategy. David wrote, “My soul follows hard after thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me” (Psalms 63:8) and if there ever was a strategy wise for us to follow, then this verse states the case.
“Hard” is an old King James English word that is modernly translated as “Close” as in, “I’m following so close” that I have a grasp on your mercies and grace!
Having a strategy puts you in a better position to respond to the tragedy and emergency situation.
If there’s anything I know about all the years of project work, you need to be fluid. Flow with the situation, swoop around the barriers, brace for the bumps, dive for the deep, and most of all, enjoy the ride! Why? Tomorrow is another day and there will be plenty of opportunities to have a better day!