Priorities, Procrastination and Power

You are the storyteller of your life and you can create your own legend or not. Isabel Allende


Do you have a dream? Is it something that you have denied for so long that you have forgotten what it is?

Do you have a dream? Have you listened to that voice that tells you that your dream is impossible, impractical or not important enough to put time and energy into?

Do you have a dream? Do you doubt your ability to achieve it? Or if you believe in yourself do you just not have any idea where to start?

God has given us all gifts to be used to his glory, but many of us discount those gifts, often without even knowing it. We discount them by not recognizing them as gifts. We discount them by not giving them top priority in our lives and we discount them by not recognizing the resources without and within to accomplish our dreams.

Ask yourself: What if I acknowledged the gifts God has given me? What if I made using that gift a top priority in my life? What if God has already made the power and the resources available to me to be successful?

His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” Matthew 25:23

Are There More Presents?

A young mom recently told me about her Christmas day experience with her three year old. "She loved opening her gifts but she didn't really want to play with them once she got them opened," she said. "She just kept asking, 'Are there more presents?'" I think this child is much like many of the adults I know, myself included. We enjoy the surprise and newness of a project but lose interest once we must follow through and take action to reach our goal. We can list lots of ideas, goals, New Year resolutions but determining the steps to reach them and then actually taking those steps--there's the challenge! It's easier just to keep opening those gifts, setting those goals.

Brian Tracy in his book Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, identifies seven steps to achieving goals. It is one of the best action oriented plans I've seen. Here are the steps:



1. Decide exactly what you want
2. Write it down
3. Set a deadline
4. Make a list of everything that you can think of that you need to do to achieve your goal
5. Organize the list into a plan
6. Take action on your plan immediately
7. Do something every single day to move toward your goal.

Notice that step #6 is "take action on your plan immediately". Here is where I fear many of us become lost. We can identify that New Year's Resolution, write it down, even set a deadline but the last two steps are critical to accomplishing the goal. Also, notice that it doesn't say 'take the right or best or (my downfall) perfect action.' It just says TAKE ACTION! Pretty simple, huh? You can always correct action that is nonproductive. You can fix mistakes. But a goal with no action in any direction is worthless. Much like looking for more presents to open when you haven't taken the time to enjoy the ones you have. Life is a gift. Open it. Enjoy!

Vanda-lizards and eating frogs

There is an aunt on my husband's side of the family, who never fails to amuse me with her southern country speech. One day while talking to her about walking in a local park, she began complaining about the damage done by vandals in the area. "You just can't have anything nice anymore," she said, "without the vanda-lizards destroying it." Vanda-whats? Lizards?

While I am dismayed by the destruction of vanda-lizards in our community, I am equally concerned about internal vanda-lizards that sabotage our best laid plans. Most of these are subtle and disguised. Probably one of the worst vanda-lizards is a lack of clear goals. I must admit this has been a vanda-lizard that I misunderstood until recently. Since, I was quite productive and was checking things off my to-do-list regularly, I felt confident I was moving forward. Accomplishments however,in and of themselves, are not always the desired end result. Although, I seemed to be making progress, I was drowning in the small details of my list, instead of setting priorities and focusing on the bigger picture. It is easy to feel accomplished when you are checking off laundry and grocery shopping all the while bigger and more significant goals like spending time with my family, writing regularly, even daily prayer go unmet. It is possible to be highly organized and focused, energetic and productive but all in the wrong direction, much like someone who heads toward California by way of Florida. You can check off a lot of landmarks along the way but you may never arrive at your destination.

I recently read a quote from a first time author who said, "Every year I would set the goal of publishing my work, but life kept getting in the way." I could have said that myself, except that if I were being honest, I would say that the vanda-lizard of insufficient priority setting got in the way. One of my greatest struggles has been making sure that my focus and energy is directed toward the top 20% of my to-do-list while letting go of the 80% of the list which may be easy to accomplish but not truly significant. Mark Twain once said, "If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of your day will be wonderful." In other words, first complete the most difficult and most significant task of your day, and the remainder of your day will follow in the right direction. This of course is easier said than done. So what about you? Are you making progress on your major goals? Have you set priorities? Are you eating frogs, or letting the vanda-lizards sabotage your priority setting?