Change Your Priorities - Change Your Life

I have to ask myself this too often lately, as it seems to be easy for me to forget. I tend to get bogged down with “work” and striving to “get things done” and find that I might be missing out on “life”.


I had an opportunity jump up and kick me Chuck Norris-style the other day. I needed to be kicked that hard to wake up and start paying attention more to “life” than “work” – have you been there before?

I had my day all planned – I got up at 5am to work, I planned to work through lunch, then I had some work to do in the afternoon, followed by a quick drive home to do some more work. It wasn’t much different than other days.

But something was trying to interrupt that beautiful plan for perfect productivity.

My daughter came to me and asked if I was planning to come to her “awards ceremony” – she was receiving a paper certificate for being an “Outstanding Reader” with what seemed to be 5,000 other kids. The plan for the ceremony was for mobs 50-100 of kids to run up to their teacher or principal to receive their certificate, and then sprint back to their seat in the gymnasium bleachers, it wasn’t really what I thought of as an “awards ceremony”. To her, it was the most important thing that was going to happen before her high school graduation.

I wrestled with the idea of going or not going for quite a while. I saw quite a few tears, some lip quivers, and some VERY angry eyebrows from my wife. However, my drive for a perfectly productive work day was preventing me from caring very much. Eventually, I made up my mind to go, “but only for a little while”.

I went, it was as I expected, mobs of kids running back and forth to grab paper awards, while teachers tried to shush them and parent snapped off pictures. Of course, I had my camera and ran down to take a few snap shots. I’m fairly certain my daughter smiled wider than she had at any Christmas or Birthday gift she had every received. It really was the most important thing in her mind for that day, week, and month. Simply by showing up, I made her feel special, and let her know how important she is in my life – more important than work.

Too often, I get confused and forget that I work so that I can enjoy life with my family. Sometimes, my priorities get mixed up, and I find myself seeing family and friends as an interruption to my work – how sad and embarrassing.

Fortunately, I have “silly” little events like awards ceremonies, selling girl scout cookies, coaching soccer, and trips to the aquarium that remind me that be a part of their lives is more important that putting together a perfectly productive day. I am reminded that phone calls from friends, couples nights, weekend camping trips with the guys, or sending a supportive email to an old buddy is more important than trying to squeeze another dollar out of the day.

I am fortunate to have friends and family in my life to remind me to LIVE life, not work through it. So to them, I say “THANKS”, and yes, I will be there for that camping trip – all of them. But only after I take the girls out to sell cookies. I will work enough to be able to support and be a part of the lives of my friends and family; not so much that I forget how important they are.

So what about you?

Is there a part of life you are missing out on that you once thought was a priority?

Is there an email you haven’t sent?

A phone call you haven’t made?

A trip to visit friends that you have been “too busy” to do?

Sometimes we need “silly” little events to remind us of life’s priorities. Maybe this email is just silly enough to push you in that direction.

My daughter is watching cartoons by herself while I type this – it’s time to adjust my priorities.

Make it a priority to have a great week.