Priorities – My Word of the Year for 2017

Someone once told me that if you get your priorities in order, then the rest of your day (or year) should flow smoothly. That someone was my daughter’s 4th grade teacher & although I’m probably paraphrasing the pep talk that the teacher gave her students last year, the idea is just the same – focus on what is important for that day, that week or this month & then you’ll have a better understanding of what you need to do to get through the day.

Let’s review the definition…

So what are my priorities? I have several…

FAMILY
Of course family is my first priority (#FamilyFirst) but sometimes there are distractions that get in the way. I try to live in the moment & be present at all times, like during my daughter’s martial arts classes or while eating dinner with the family. However when your smartphone pings due to a work email notification during your kiddo’s class or there is something exciting on the TV during dinnertime, then sometimes your attention isn’t 100% there.

When I’m not giving my full attention to my family, I feel guilty. The next time you go out to a restaurant, take a look at the people at other tables & see how many folks are checking out their phones. If I want to be present, then I need to try to unplug at least once (or more) a week. A few years ago I blogged about going on a social media fast, so perhaps I’m due for one again.

WORK
I’ve had every type of job there is: full-time corporate, part-time freelance, temp work, contract work, work-from-home, etc. Probably the only thing I haven’t tried is direct sales or Fiverr. To paraphrase U2’s Bono, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

As someone who is currently holding down multiple part-time/freelance gigs, I’ve come to realize that work-from-home sometimes means “always being connected.” There is always some task that I could be working on in my “spare time.” This totally goes against my priority of trying to unplug, so I’ll need to work on that. Probably the best thing for me to do is set boundaries (time-wise) & not check emails at weird hours of the day.

FOOD
The new year always brings about my resolution to eat clean & healthy. That usually flies out the window around February or maybe even late-January. (yikes!)

My intent is to eat more of this…

& less of this…

FITNESS
If you follow my Instagram, then you know that fitness is always a priority for me. My goal is to workout with purpose instead of just doing the same old, same old. That means mixing up the group fitness classes instead of just mindlessly using the elliptical or treadmill.

SELF-CARE
I hear a lot about people who meditate for a few minutes as soon as they wake up in the morning. Some people stretch or do yoga poses, others pray or chant a phrase. My goal is to do some form of meditation in the morning instead of grabbing my iPhone to check Facebook. Maybe I can compromise & just grab my phone to look up the app that will give me a yoga pose for the day! 😉

My other self-care goal that I’ve had on my list forever is to sleep more!! I take a cat nap at least once a day, which enables me to power through my afternoon, evening & night. BUT that comes at a price when I end up being a night owl of sorts. I really need to just take Arianna Huffington’s advice & go to bed earlier.

So these are my priorities for the year. I’ve already accepted the fact that my priorities will shift throughout the day, week & year. However the important thing is to keep my eyes on the prize which are these five things. Also another thing I’m going to throw out the window & stop striving for is “balance.” I’ve been to a lot of conferences over the years (blogger, fitness & self-help conferences) & at least one person will talk about “trying to achieve work-life balance.” Dude, there is no such thing! Much like when I do sit-up exercises on the Terra-Core, it is a struggle to stay balanced & upright.

Listen…the struggle in life is real & to sit there & say that I’m going to “find balance” is really just setting yourself up for failure. That’s why I like the idea of setting priorities, because as we all know your priority for the day can always change. I like the idea of keeping things fluid & flexible. Keep the bar low is what I say…  🙂

So do you have a word of the year picked out? I’d love to know what it is, so please let me know in the comments below!

Disclosure: There is nothing to disclose! All images are mine & my opinions are 100% my own.