Do you often have a question in your head: ''What do I want?'' Sooner or later, every person asks this question. Trying to realize our dreams and satisfy desires, we choose our life path.
How to realize your goals in a certain period of life
Desires can be endless. And how, then, to determine the tasks of paramount importance and arrange the rest of the aspirations in the right order? After all, everyone wants to be rich, he althy, drive an expensive car, learn several languages and gain immortality. Ambition is very good, but it should not exceed the reality.
The main thing you need to learn to do is prioritize. First, take a pen and a blank sheet of paper. Write down all your desires in a column. Write the list in present tense. For example: ''I look at my bank account. The balance is 500 thousand rubles. I feel happiness and satisfaction from the reward for my work.'' The main condition is that what you write looks believable. That is, if you write that you are having lunch with the president, but subconsciously understand that this is impossible, or possible, but not in the near future, then you should not write it.
Working with the wishlist
Once your desires have been written down, start reading them aloud one by one, pausing before each subsequent entry. After reading one wish, close your eyes and concentrate on your feelings. What do you feel? It can be satisfaction, a feeling of superiority over others, indifference, a pleasant thrill, or a feeling of real happiness and flight.
It is the feeling of happiness that is the true desire of every person. Perhaps he is not even aware of this, but subconsciously each of us strives for happiness. Guided only by your inner feelings, you will understand what you really want from life and learn to prioritize.
Analysis of the three main points
Check out anything that doesn't fit your priorities and keep three. Why only three? It's simple, practice and research shows that a person cannot work effectively on more than three tasks.
Think about what you are doing now, what activity takes up most of your time. The main question to ask yourself is whether this type of activity brings me closer to my goal. If the answer is no, then it's time to change something.
The road to happiness is difficult, but the right priorities will make the process much easier and faster.
Other people's interests
Self-sacrifice and life for the sake of others, loved ones, makes sense only if it is a conscious choicea person whose realization brings him joy and happiness. Of course, caring for loved ones is a normal behavioral reaction, but when a sense of duty cancels out one's own aspirations and dreams, driving a person into depression, this is no longer the norm. There are many examples when he althy egoism played into the hands of not only a person, but also members of his family.
A vivid example when young people, striving for a bright future, leave their father's house and leave to study or work in other cities or countries where, in their opinion, young people expect many opportunities and great success. Youthful maximalism often helps people and leads them in the right direction. While parents, wise by experience, prefer to keep their child with them, being able to help him if necessary.
Every person has their own goals, and no one, including close relatives, should interfere with achieving the goals. You should not allow yourself to be manipulated, indulging others will not make you happy - rather, on the contrary.
Change of priorities
The above lists will help you develop your ability to prioritize. And upon reaching all the points, it makes sense to acquire a new list.
It's perfectly normal for priorities to change with age. The stages of growing up involve a change of mindset. Changing priorities should be evolutionary, not the other way around.
Not the best option when a person rushes through life and cannot find his place. In this case, it is importantanalyze your actions, and understand from where everything went wrong as planned. If you have problems analyzing your actions, or you need help, it would be useful to visit a psychologist who can help you prioritize correctly.
Etymology of the word ''priority''
An interesting fact is that the word ''priority'' was not used in the plural until the beginning of the 20th century. Prior to this, this concept was used only in the singular.
The word ''priority'' has the Latin prefix 'prio', which means ''before''. Prioritizing means identifying the tasks that advance your goals.
There is an effective principle for working with priorities, namely the Eisenhower method. It helps to set all the tasks using only two criteria - important and urgent.
The difference between important and urgent things
The well-known Pareto principle tells us that 20 percent of all our tasks will be classified as important. Interesting, but some of them will also be considered urgent. What's the difference?
The implementation of important things brings you closer to your goal. At the same time, the execution of urgent tasks distracts your attention, but does not significantly affect the achievement of the chosen goal.
It's no secret that most people start out with secondary tasks. The thing is that they are lighter and do not require serious costs. How is the brainand the body does not like to overstrain, if they are not accustomed to this. And the implementation of unimportant things creates the appearance of work, but the truth is that you should pay attention to those tasks, the solution of which will contribute to your success. Knowing how to prioritize life will help you with this.
Priority categories on the Eisenhower list
Priority A is the things that need to get done today as they are both urgent and important.
Priority B are things that are optional on a particular day, but for which you need to carve out a small amount of time daily. Their stable implementation will bring the achievement of the goal closer.
A very common mistake is postponing things from the second group until later. You don’t need to do this, because the developed habit of solving problems constantly in a small amount will qualitatively affect your further achievements.
Examples of tasks from priority B:
- Writing a diploma or an important report for work. Let's say you have a month to calmly prepare the necessary report. But you are postponing work in a black box. As a result, moral and physical overstrain in the last hours before submitting the report can lead to a crisis and undesirable consequences.
- In personal life, a good example of tasks from list B would be a timely examination by a doctor in order to identify diseases at an early stage in order to avoid a long period of disability later.
How to work withthird and fourth order priorities
Priority C. These include skills that you feel are urgent to learn but are not important. For example, learn to say ''no'' when the need arises. These tasks will give you the necessary time to solve priority tasks.
Priority D. These are tasks that are not important or urgent. You can safely postpone them for later, or entrust them to other people. It is strongly recommended that you periodically skip tasks from list D. Due to this, you can get a good rest on the most stressful days.
How to prioritize according to the Eisenhower method
Knowing how to prioritize is not a difficult task, the only thing that is required is to set aside a little time for writing work. But later, following your own instructions, it will be much easier to act.
- Classify your daily activities according to the four items above. This way you will immediately see what is important and urgent, and what is useless.
- Don't confuse the important with the urgent. Important things can be done gradually, giving them a little attention every day. They are an integral part of your success. Urgent matters require your attention and prompt decision. But it may not apply to your goal.
- Pay attention to the hierarchical construction of the list. Important matters take precedence over urgent ones. Do not get hung up on doing urgent things, as they tend to take a lot of time and attention, distracting from important tasks. If it is possible to avoidurgent matters - use it.
- Complete all items from Priority A. Even the last task from the first category is more important than the first item from the other groups. If during the day it was not possible to cope with all the important things, continue to work with them the next day. Do not move on to other categories until you have completed all the items from category A.
- Daily try to complete the longest tasks from Priority B. But in everyday tasks, do not forget about your main goals and work towards achieving them.
No matter how much you want to cover the maximum number of cases, there will not be enough time for everything. And this must be understood. The most important thing is to prioritize correctly, and then success will not be long in coming.
Distribute your time wisely, spending it on the really important things that will help you achieve your goals and realize your most significant desires. The ability to highlight important aspects of one's activity and avoid secondary ones is an important and useful skill. The Eisenhower method helps you understand how to prioritize your life.