Priorities. Ask anyone who knows me or just ask my partner, Scott. All will report I unapologetically bang a priority circle drum. All.The.Time. I frequently ask, “What’s at the centre of your priority circle? What else is in there?”
Last week I watched a presentation by Mark Green, a Business and Leadership Growth Coach, coaching CEOs with USD50-400million in revenue. Mark’s comments about priorities were “A priority is something that must occur at the expense of other things.” True. Everything has a trade off. And my favourite, “When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.” Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat Pray Love fame, suggests we can only have a few priorities. It may sound obvious, but how often do we find ourselves with too many plates spinning? Invariably some hit the floor and we are left feeling ragged.
We need priorities personally as much as we do professionally. Have you set your top three priorities for yourself personally and professionally? If you have, that’s awesome! How are you tracking? If you haven’t, that’s ok and you definitely aren’t on an exclusive island.
It’s important to acknowledge having clearly defined priorities can be tough. Especially if you’ve been the ‘go to’ person at work or personally. It often means having to set boundaries and saying no. This can be difficult, especially if you are a giver or doer.
Green encourages us to check-in with ourselves (I refer to it as holding a mirror up to ourselves) and to ask:
- Am I living my values?
- Am I honouring my priorities?
- Am I being accountable for my decisions and outcomes?
- Am I balancing the hard and soft edges? (More on this below)
- Am I being coached for growth?
For the hard and soft edges, think of it like this … in the work space, the hard edge is things like strategy. The soft edge is connecting to our people. Am I balancing working on strategy and showing our people I care? In the personal space, I think of the hard edge as the ‘must-dos’ of adulting and the soft edge as self-care and the things that bring us joy.
As your Coach, I am here to support be it setting priorities, boundaries or coaching for growth. Let’s connect.