Priorities

The great thing about this detox (or if you prefer, declutter) period is that it allows me to be less distracted by the slings and arrows of mindless TV living. Instead I get a chance to fall upon thoughts and ideas that I had previously looked at. I can be a bit of a hoarder - I blame my mother for that - and I'm a big fan of collecting newspaper and magazine cuttings. After sifting through a handful of articles warning of pending doom and gloom in the UK and US property markets (dated 2005, I'll have you know) I came across a piece talking about the search for balance in life. The article touched on a few well-oiled themes: inner peace, focus, values and so on. But what grabbed me was the part questioning how many of us truly know what our priorites, values and motivations are. We think we know, but how many of us have ever tried to articulate them? The piece then asks us to try and list them. Are these your real priorities, motivations etc or are they what you think they should be?


The killer test for priorities is for you to look at your chequebook or bank statement and your calendar or diary. Do these reflect what you have listed as your priorities? Our real priorities should ultimately show up in how we spend our time and our money. I suppose it's kind of obvious but I've never really thought in such straight-forward terms. If you want your priorities to be different to how they show up then there's a bit of an imbalance in the way you are living. It's quite easy to excuse away a lot with "I can't". Which is fine. Or "I would but...". It's your choice. But if you have five minutes to spare (and we all have five minutes to spare), it could be an interesting experiment. Give it a whirl. You might surprise yourself.