Choose to Prioritise

The days pass by quickly in Kuantan. The Sun seems to travel from east to west at slingshot velocity, and the question recently popped into my head: 'Where am I going with my life?' Or indeed, 'Where is my life going?' As days, weeks and months rapidly expire and become obsolete, we can easily find that we have just strolled along and not really done anything important, meaningful or necessary. We sometimes get caught up in busy work, merely settling for the same old routine we observe in our current surroundings.

I wake up around 7am, a little earlier or a little later depending on my fancy, I see the woman downstairs at the restaurant preparing noodles. My neighbour hangs dripping clothes on her balcony to my left around 8.30am, and the cake shop opens at 9.30am. Before that, my Indian neighbour noisily revs his motorbike, sending plumes of dirty smoke into the air for a good few minutes. Lauren wakes up and watches cartoons all morning, and so on and so on. The same things happen day in, day out.

We can literally get 'stuck' in a rather boring world which passes away together with our lives, all too quickly.

The only way out of this trap is to prioritise.

In order to successfully prioritise, we must first decide what we really want out of our life. We all have things we would love to achieve, places we would love to visit, books we would like to read, dreams that we wish would come true.

After spending a good deal of time pondering over my desires (both immediate and long-term) I attempted to prioritise them, putting the most urgent and necessary one first. Then comes the setting of goals.

A goal not written down is just a wish

There are many things we wish we could accomplish but never seem to be able to find the time to do! We are always busy with other things. When we make priorities and set goals, there are no other things more important. It is true that we always have the time for our priorities. It's just that we never actually write them down and seriously prioritise them.

Fail to plan; plan to fail

I started with a goal to finish reading through the Holy Bible. I started it some time last year when there was some raw excitement but soon the enthusiasm died, and many other less-important things began filling my day. The reason? My desire was not strong enough to put in writing. Recently I wrote a specific goal and I keep it where I can see it. I have other goals which are long-term and I'm developing an 'action plan' for them, involving breaking them down into sub-goals which are more manageable and achievable on a day-to-day basis.

I am finding that as I prioritise my life through the writing of goals, I get more things done, including the other little things, and I am a lot more happier in general. It's really the only way to get things done. It's like a new life has started and I'm just savouring every moment of these current circumstances I have been so blessed with.