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Actions Speak louder than words

Aug 6, 2014

Have you been parenting or mentoring or just plain doing something that keeps you busy, but that is not a priority for you?
Do you notice that the people around you when you are doing those things are aware that whatever you are doing is more important than them?

Actions always speak volumes

If you have your priority list and compare it to your action list on a daily basis, you may find yourself out of balance. Life is a balancing act, and I know from personal experience that creating the time for the things that are most important to you is not always easy. You may be EXTREMELY busy at work this week, but your daughter/son is having an important recital/game and you cannot make it to it. This is a slippery slope that you may start to find yourself out of balance and having too much focus on your work. See an earlier post here Don't get me wrong, work is important, but is it more important than your family? For some of us the answer to that question may well be yes, and in that case, the right way to look at that scenario, may be to concentrate on the work (because maybe the work is helping find a cure for the disease that is afflicting one of the children).
Regardless of the scenario, we can all rationalize about what is important in the moment.
But do we have our map of what is important to us as our guide?
Do you know what will help you make the decisions that you will be proud of today, and for the rest of your life?
Take a few minutes with me right now.
Write down what is important to you..

Seriously, stop reading this, and write out the most important things in your life right now.

Did you do it or are you just trying to get to the end of this blog so you can get back to work?
Ok so here are some helpful bits of mental floss that may assist you:
Work
Family
Friends
Giving back
Legacy
Learning
Fitness
Health
Earning Money
Doing what I love
Finding my Bliss
Helping others
Service
Once you have your list, do yourself a favour and prioritize them from most important to least important.
Once that is complete, let's look at your top five.
For me, the list goes like this:
1: my health- fitness --(without this I can not do any of the other things on my list)
2: my family/friends
3: learning and growing
4: giving to my audience, helping them with what they need
5: contributing to my communities--through Volunteer Firefighting, and Front Row Foundation, and factsociety
Now, try an experiment if you can, for one day, and see if you can balance your life in a way that will make future you proud. What you will want to do is to write out your list, and compare your priorities to each of the decisions that you are making for one full day (24 hours).
An example for me is "Am I exercising today to maintain my health and fitness?" If not why not? How can I make it happen for me today?
Another would be "What am I doing today that will better the relationships that I have made with my family and friends?"
Another would be " where is my river of knowledge taking me today? What books or articles am I going to learn about today?"
These are great starting points but you will come to a point during the day when the hardest decision of your day will be asked of you, and if you have this list handy, and you can compare your priorities to your actions, you will see if there are any discrepancies.
If your kids ask you to play at your quitting time, and you  value them above your work, and yet your actions are keeping you at work, then your priorities and your actions are not speaking the same language. Which one will your kids hear?
If you are always acting in line with your priorities, great for you!
I know that personally I have to remind myself what is important to me, and when I have tougher decisions to make, that I love having this list close to me.
I compare what I think I should do to the list, and if they are not aligned I rethink my plan.
Do you have a great list that you want to share?
Send me an email  warren@getu2thetop.com and I will add it to this post!