Establishing Your Priorities 

You're here because you crave a life that feels in alignment. You want to feel more intentional and peaceful. If you're around here long, you'll hear me talk about how the first step is always identifying your top values, then using them as the foundation for how you establish your priorities, manage your time, make your decisions, and run your home and business. (Need help figuring those out? Start here with my free audio course.)

But here's where most of us get stuck: we know what's important, but our daily actions don't reflect it.

It's Not Just About Learning What's Important

It's about how to lead with what's most important.

My personal goal for you through this whole process is for you to have freedom in your day to connect with God. I want you to have freedom in your day to connect with yourself. I want you to have freedom in your day to ask, "What do I want to create?"

That's when we know that we're living to a different standard. It's not about asking, "What do I have to do next?" or "Where am I going to have to clean up today?" But it's about showing up in a purposeful way, the way God designed for us. And that's truly impactful.

Don't get overwhelmed thinking about an overhaul. This whole process is about taking the tiny baby steps to make the most of our time and energy. It's all about the power of the compound effect, which are small actions adding up to big results over time.

I have an amazing quote that sits right next to my desk so I can look at it every single day. And it's my reminder of why I'm doing what I'm doing:

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The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The work of life is to develop it. The meaning of life is to give your gift away."    
- David Viscott

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I want to give you breathing room in your day to discover your gifts, talents, and passions. So if you get frustrated and overwhelmed along the way, remember that the small steps we're taking right now of determining our values and aligning our priorities are creating that space in your life.

Why Do So Many of Us Feel Out of Alignment?

Why do we feel like we're constantly running, aimless, and burned out? The honest truth—we're overcommitted. We run from one thing to another trying to give our children fulfilled lives, but in turn, we feel like total messes, often pouring from an empty cup.

Today, I'm going to help you refocus your priorities to pave the way for your success.

Your Week-Long Activity: The Values Tracking System

Look down at your top five values for a moment and ask yourself: Am I leading with this value each and every single day?

I encourage you to track your activities using this question as a guide to spot the areas that you’re living in alignment, and areas that are not in alignment with what’s truly important to you. 

Step 1: Create Your Daily Task List

Create a list of your daily to-dos. I recommend doing this the night before and then reflecting in the morning before diving into your day. It's going to give you more purpose and intention starting the night before.

Then next to each item, I want you to ask yourself: What value is aligned with this?

Not every item has to have a value, but this is to help you see if your actions are aligned with your priorities.

For example: You could write down on your task list "go for a walk," and if that's aligned with your health value (say health is one of your values), then you would write "health" next to it.

How to Format Your Tracking Sheet

Here's how I format mine so I can clearly see my tasks, the value that corresponds with it, and whether I completed it:

• Column 1: Checkbox (Did I complete this?)
• Column 2: The task itself
• Column 3: The associated value (if any)

At the bottom of the page, I also write out my five values so I can easily reference them as I'm creating my list.

Keep track of what you accomplished through the week with a check mark. That is an immediate endorphin release and it helps you see what you're actually doing throughout the day.

Step 2: Weekly Reflection

At the end of the week, I want you to tally how many objectives based on your values that you accomplished.

At the end of the week, you can say, "Oh, I hit my health with 10 tasks" or "I literally did not work on my health at all." That's okay—it's not time to beat yourself up. It's about making changes going forward. This awareness helps you adapt and be proactive with your schedule versus reactive.

The results of this may surprise you.

Once you get to the end of the week, it's time to reflect:

• Which value was your top priority based on the objectives completed through the week?
• Which value did you spend the least amount of time on?
• Was there a value you spent no time on?

When we see our priorities listed out and compare them to how we're actually spending our time, it helps us realize where our energy is really going. A lot of times we don't actually see what we're doing, and this gives you the clarity to be proactive and say, "Okay, now I'm going to craft my way forward."

Ask yourself: Are you filling your time with a lot of meaningless tasks or top value priorities?

Week Two: Making Adjustments

After the first week, I want you to continue this method of list creation and values, but I want you to shape how you're going to spend your time going forward.

It's time to be proactive with your time. What changes do you need to make in order to incorporate a value you weren't spending any time on?

The Four Questions for Non-Value Tasks

If there's an objective or a task in your schedule that's not in your value system, I want you to answer these four questions:

1. Do I have to continue completing this objective?
2. Is there a way I need to do it that will take some of the burden off of me?
3. Am I able to drop this objective from my daily task list?
4. If I cannot drop this objective, can I delegate it and get it off my plate?

This is the beginning of reestablishing your priorities.

A Real Example from My Life

I wrote down laundry on my Monday task list—four loads because this is mom life—and I didn't put a value next to it. I guess in some way it's for my family since we all need clothes, but honestly, it's really not important to me. I cannot stand laundry.

But I can't drop it and I really can't delegate it. So I had to get strategic. I adjusted how laundry fits into my schedule to take some of the burden off, so it's not constantly weighing on my mind and draining my mental energy.

So if you can't drop or delegate something, ask yourself: How can I adjust this to take the burden off? Maybe it's batching the task, setting a specific day for it, or creating a system that makes it easier. This shift helps you move from reactive (constantly stressed about laundry piling up) to intentional (it has a place and time, and you're not thinking about it constantly).

Stop Huffing and Puffing Through Your Days

Too many of us moms huff and puff through the day, feeling used up and not making any changes.

First, we need to gain that clarity, and that's what this activity is for. Then we need to reflect to see what adjustments we can make going forward. More often than not, we are overcommitted to things that really aren't important to us.

The big question for you to take going forward: How can I craft my time in alignment with my priorities?

Your Next Step

Remember, each step you are making brings you closer to living in alignment with the things that are truly important to you. It’s worth it to take the time to gain clarity on your priorities and make adjustments moving forward.

Ready to dive deeper into values-based living? My free ALIGN Audio Course walks you through this entire process step by step with worksheets, assessments, and guided audio training to help you get clear and lead your days with intention.

Get your free ALIGN Course here

Need Help Identifying Your Next Right Step?

Sometimes you need someone to help you see what you can't see on your own. That's exactly what I do in my free 20-minute Roadmap Calls. This is a no-pressure Zoom chat where we'll talk through where you're struggling most, identify your next right step, and map out how to move forward with clarity and confidence. 

Book Your Free Roadmap Call here