What Order Are Your Priorities In?

Lots of books and successful people talk about staying focused on what is important to them.  The usual comment is something to the effect of: God comes first (or whatever spiritual focus works for you), family, taking care of themselves and then their work.  I would like to submit to the world that is just not reality.  At least when it comes to daily life.  Keep in mind these people are usually incredibly financially successful so they can afford lots of outside help to take care of the minutiae daily life and then just focus on what they want to.  I would suspect that things looked much different earlier in their career.

In Real Estate classes, when they get to time blocking they tell you to put all of the things into your schedule that don’t have to do with real estate and then fit your real estate into the time that is left.  Good in theory, but it does not compute in real life.  Especially if you have children, potentially a spouse and interests of your own.  During the holidays I worked from home doing a little of this and a little of that each day.  Some work on the computer, some cookie baking and some decorating, etc.  The first week everything went fine and I got lulled into a false sense of feeling like this is working out great!  I should do this all the time and always be working on every area of my life at all times.  By the second week though things were starting to feel less focused and by the third wheel real estate is pretty much out of the picture in terms of getting things done over and above the bear essentials.  This does not make for a successful and thriving business!

Now here we are in the first week of January.  The kids are back in school, we have taken a break from throwing parties and I am back to work.  Not just back to work, but back in the office working.   My business has taken off in the last week!  Being focused on work, getting into the office and treating it like a business again has made all the difference and I have the clients to prove it.

For whatever reason we have been told that it is not acceptable to put work first.  Well let yourself off the hook and get some work done.  It is okay to put work first and in this economy that is exactly where it needs to be.  Your family is important and you still need to spend time with them (and hopefully want to) but make your time with them about really interacting with them.  Don’t worry so much about weather the house is perfect or if you are serving gourmet dinners every night.  Take the time you need to get your work done.  The payoff will be there in your business and you may actually find yourself less stressed because you are able to complete tasks at work which then leave you more open to spending time with your family rather than being stressed out by unfinished projects that are nagging at you.