Prioritization goes hand in hand with #commitment because we need to exercise #prioritization before and after making a commitment, and while we follow through on our commitment. Why?
When we make a commitment, the thing we commit to becomes one of our priorities. If we already have a lot of commitments, we are well advised to check in with them before we add another commitment. Depending on how happy you are about this new commitment aka #project, #task, #goal or event, this is easier said than done. You might well jump at the opportunity to take on that new commitment. Or it may feel perfectly natural to add it because you are very clear on your values and #responsibilities, and the new commitment is clearly in line with both.
This can become tricky if you have multiple areas of your life in which you take an active part, like being a parent, spouse, #manager, #leader, entrepreneur, volunteer, or hobbyist. Each of these #roles requires a certain commitment, and many come with several responsibilities and projects within just the same area. Think of your #management or entrepreneurial responsibilities, and of your role within your family. We’ll just skip volunteering, a side hustle, pets, hobbies and sports for a second.
I feel that over the past years, we have all been lured into taking on more and more commitments, following and reacting to the constant changes, updates and shifts in our outer world. Dynamic updates have become the norm in a leader’s operational day. If we aren’t conscious about our own actions, we can easily be overloaded with tasks and priorities.
The quicker the pace of updates, the more managers I see trying to fight the onslaught of change with more speed of their own. And that’s how they burn out, frustrating their team members, clients, bosses, and mostly themselves.
As a business owner, leadership coach and project manager of 15+ years, as well as a mom of two teens, wife to an equally busy husband, former volunteer to several organizations, and keen reader and learner, I know a thing or two about prioritization and commitments. I have learned to re-evaluate my priorities frequently, and to consciously pause and reflect. Every now and then I do a “strategy offsite with myself”, sorting through my current situation and the bigger picture of my life. I always come out refreshed, energized and with a clear path ahead.
This has become such a success that my coaching clients asked if they could have one, too. So I created a one-day intensive with some add-ons. Let me know if you need a strategy offsite with yourself, and I’ll walk you through the details.
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