Priorities Management vs. Time Management

I've always resisted time management, even hate the phrase. As an artistic, creative personality it's entirely counter to my nature. However, I've come to understand the need for management & to understand that managing our priorities is what each of us needs to do.

First, you have to get in touch with your true priorities. In time management you're asked to rate your priorities & pay attention to how much time you're giving each of them. Your top priorities need to have your biggest time & attention. Time management principles actually work in priorities management, so I'm glad I learned them. As I've said many times before, it's your attitude & the slant you put on things that matter. Once I slanted the principle to the idea of completely managing my priorities instead of my time, I was able to apply what I'd learned.

Those of us in non-traditional work especially need to get in touch with the priorities based on our highest good & functioning. Our time is not dictated by a 9 - 5 job so we have to give ourselves the structure we need. I haven't been effectively managing my own priorities & the biggest mistake I was making was not putting myself in there. We are not unlimited resources so we have to put all our needs into the priorities category too. We all need download/relax time, renewal time (think meditation, prayer, etc.), family time, friend time, play time, exercise, food, sleep & rest, just as a start. This is true whether your time is dictated by an employer or home office, or not.

I begin each day by giving myself, my life, & my day to God to do with as He will, to guide, lead, & direct. Those are my exact words, & I entirely mean it. So I was just following inner prompts from there on out each day. And my inner prompts are faulty in some ways. For one thing, I'm not trained to include me. I'm trained to make myself last & least. So I'd start my day with prayer & angel work, "I Am"s & manifestation work, then usually come write the blog. Housekeeping & cat care is always a part of my day but when I do them has entirely varied. Usually I do these things while on the phone with someone. My Bluetooth has become an essential tool. There's nothing wrong with this. We don't have to have rigid schedules & many of us can't work that way. That's why thinking of priorities management vs. time management is so helpful. If you reject time management & don't work on priorities management, your time entirely gets away from you.

I was living in response to what came up each day without managing my priorities with the above system. I was failing to manage so therefore always struggling to keep up, not using my time in the way I needed to, the most productive ways. I was also focused on being productive rather than thriving. More on that another time. I was always working very hard but not on my priorities, being responsive to those in need & therefore putting them before me. I was therefore not doing the things I wanted & needed to do to thrive. Everyone else benefiting & I only marginally did. There was never time left in a day for me or what I wanted & needed.

When I sat down to line out my priorities & assign values, I was very surprised at what I found. Things I'd considered to be top priorities really aren't & the things I've been neglecting are. I wrote down my priorities, then designated whether they are daily or weekly priorities. Then I gave them the values. Here's what I came up with. Number 1 daily priorities for me are: exercise, play, singing, & dancing; healing myself; prayer time (affirmations, angel work included); rest; sleep; personal care (at my age that now includes skin care). Number 2 daily priorities include: my cats; income generation; Reiki & doing God's work, my life mission work; making things (crafts). Number 3 mostly falls into the weekly category, it turns out: housekeeping (daily & weekly); reading & studying, learning; meditation; business management; personal business management (liked bill paying); networking. Number 4, weekly: friends; family; creating art. Number 5, weekly: socialization. 

I was putting friends & family before me. I was putting work before me, & often putting friends & family before work. I wasn't devoting any time to exercise & play & it truly is a daily priority. I didn't have personal self care in there, or self healing. As a result, I seldom gave any time ever to these things, or only minimally. It may not sound important to you, but I want to start using skin cream daily! I also didn't have craft work in there at all, & it's necessary for my life. But until I wrote it in as a priority, it was something I seldom gave myself time for. Same with art. I could go on & on about this but the point is, I've been putting others & responding to them & always being available above all else. I'm in the people & pet business so I've been putting them first & all except my most urgent needs & wants haven't been addressed at all. That leads to health problems, burn out, & resentments. My body has been trying to get my attention for awhile now, going to more & more drastic measures to do it. So lately I've had hives & other stress reactions. I haven't been outwardly feeling the stress because I manage it well. You know how if you usually read my blogs. Since I so effectively manage my mind, my body had to rebel to tell me.

Now that I have my true priorities lined out & set in order of importance, it's up to me to schedule my time daily & weekly to align with my own priorities. Perhaps that will lead to another blog. I'll have to see how to be fluid in my time & still structure my life based on my individual priorities.