Are You Really Living Your Priorities?
You’ve all heard me talk about the “PRINCE”-iples of Success. They start with knowing your passion and identifying your purpose.
Passion and purpose are two of my favorite things to talk about! One of the reasons is because they’re “easy” to identify. They are the things that you LOVE, what you would do for FREE, and what makes you come alive.
They are inherent emotions, ideas or callings that we know are right for us.
If you are still struggling with passion or purpose, don’t worry! Go back and check out my post on how to know your passion and find your purpose.
After these two steps comes the real work of putting your passion and purpose into action. That starts with knowing your priorities.
What are the tangible actions and steps you MUST take in order to bring your purpose to life and live your passion?
Priorities influence your day-to-day actions, your career, hobbies, interests, interactions and relationships with those around you.
Unlike passion and purpose, they are measurable and can be tracked. In other words, to a certain extent there is a “right” and “wrong.”
For example, if you decide that your health is a priority, then eating well, exercising and getting adequate sleep are the ACTIONS you must take to make good on your priority.
Over the course of a few days or weeks, you can track how well you’ve managed and if you’re truly prioritizing your health.
If, after work you come home, pop in a microwave dinner and plop down on the couch, you’re not living this priority. You’re not making good on the promise you made to yourself and your wellbeing.
Here’s another example that comes from my personal life; the time when I discovered my true calling.
My purpose in life was to inspire, motivate and help others to get their stories out and achieve their personal greatness.
And so I knew I had to do everything in my power to achieve it.
With my passion to help others and my purpose in mind, I started writing a book, attracting speaking engagements, sharing MY story and connecting with like-minded individuals.
These were priorities, things I knew I needed to do in order to achieve my purpose.
At the end of the day or week, whatever it may have been, I could look back and say, “how many words did I write this week?” or “did I attract new speaking engagements; did I put in the work to expand my network?”
If I could say, with full sincerity that YES I had stuck to my guns, wrote my book and did all the things I needed to share my story and connect with others, then I knew I was living my priorities.
But recently, my priorities were tested: and I had to make a difficult decision.
As many of you know, I offer my “Book Bound Workshop” twice per year; one in sunny, beautiful Captiva Island, and the second in my hometown, Dallas, TX.
Well, this year my second event would come around the same time as my oldest son, Austin graduates from high school.
All of the preparation, time, energy and effort to organize this amazing 3-day event would surely distract from the one-in-a-lifetime memories of preparing my son to go off to college and start his life as a young man.
Can you see how my priorities would be tested?
Helping people share their stories is my purpose! Yet, my true passion, the thing that will always come first for me, is my family. And with that in mind, the decision to forgo this year’s second “Book Bound” was an easy one.
My family will always come first. THEY are my number one priority. In the end, I am so grateful for moments like these, where I am truly challenged and reminded of what is important to me.
The great news is, because I am SO passionate about inspiring others to share their story, I created a special, new program called “Book Bound Online.”
“Book Bound Online” takes all the learning, excitement and resources from the 3-day live event and puts them into 14, guided online modules.
So now you can learn how to write, edit, publish and market your book anytime, anywhere! Now, there’s no reason not to become an author.
Your journey to authorship starts with “Book Bound Online.”
What are your priorities? Are you really living them?
If you want to share your story, WRITE A BOOK!