Where Are You on Your List?

You don’t always have to be last on your list. I would argue that you can be first on your list or, at the very least, somewhere near the top. Why? Because your relationship with yourself is the basis for all other relationships. How you do one thing is how you do everything. So, if you don’t love and value yourself enough to make your life and well-being a priority, then you are not truly giving your best to anyone or anything.  

When you carve out time for yourself, you can truly look inward at your thoughts and feelings and examine how you want your life to go. You can decide how you want to show up for yourself and others. Most people don’t take the time to do this because they think life is just happening to them. They are consumed by the day-to-day rituals of life, and they are merely reacting.

Have you ever had one of those mornings where the alarm doesn’t go off, so you wake up late and, in your rush to get going, you stub your toe, and the day just spirals down from there? You spill your coffee in the car, which distracts you, and you run a stop sign and get a ticket…

Now, consider if you had taken two minutes to think okay, the alarm didn’t go off and I’m late. I can’t change that fact now, but I can take control of the rest of my day. I first need to focus on getting to the office as quickly as possible, and then I’ll adjust from there. When you approach it from a mindset of “what can I control,” solutions and options will present themselves. And I promise your day will unfold very differently.  

You may not be aware or believe that you can create your life. That you can plan and determine how your life goes. If you make it a priority to spend time focused on yourself and your life, you can change your trajectory. You may think I’m suggesting that you change everything in your life; I am not. What I’m offering is that even the slightest shift in how you think about things can have a significant impact on your life. Think about how just a slight turn of the steering wheel moves your car into the next lane.  

Now, imagine how your life will change if you make time weekly to set your intentions and plan. I’m not saying you can control everything that happens in your life, but you can manage your mind and the way you respond to life. If you have an idea of what you want to happen and how you want something to play out, your mind will go to work on figuring out how to make it happen. And even if things go off track, you won’t just impulsively react to the situation; you will be focused on getting back on track and the desired outcome.

Are you thinking this sounds hard and like a lot of work? It does take effort to have a mind shift. But wouldn’t you rather put in the work and spend the mental energy on how you want your life to be, and not reviewing and replaying in your mind all of the things that went wrong and happened to you in your life?

So, this week, when you are making your To-Do list (and we will be talking about that list in an upcoming post), put yourself at the top of the list.  Then take some time alone in a quiet place, and think about what you want to accomplish in the coming week and why it is important to you. Imagine how you will feel when it is accomplished.

Plan your week with intention and notice how it goes. I think you will find that you have a much better week and feel like you are living your life, not just going through the motions. 

If you need help putting this process into action, contact me. I can help you visualize your To-Do list in a new way and create the life you want to live. 

Your Day. Your Life. Your Dreams. Your Way.