Your job will not take care of you when you get sick. Work will not bail you out of jail. Friends and family will. Put them first in your life. When embarking on your career, building companies or engaging in a hobby, make people a priority as a general rule. Culture and the success of your work stem entirely from the health, attitude and relationships of people surrounding the job. Treat them very well, take care of them – and perhaps they will do the same for you. The risk of taking care of others without the guarantee of a returned favor far outshines the risk of working eighty hour weeks alone.
Tag Archives: priorities
Chase the Currency That Matters Most To You
Money isn’t everything. Time, knowledge, happiness, autonomy, geography and output are all currencies that can be measured and prioritized in different ways. When job hunting, you look at more than just the salary – how much time you’ll get to spend with your kids, how far away it is, how much you’ll be able to learn and grow, what autonomy you’ll have and what you’ll be able to build. Sometimes, money is the most important and necessary thing to you. Other times, you might be willing to make a salary sacrifice to learn something specific or work closer to a place you call home. What matters most to you now? How does that affect your decisions? I find it useful to rank the currencies that matter at this moment. Do you need time more than money now? Do you want social outings more than the number of books read? Do you want a job that constantly teaches you new things or do you want an easy commute? Write it all out. Prioritize your life and make important decisions accordingly.
Profiteering Is Not A Good Bet
Setting out to build a business or project for the money is a huge risk – a bigger risk than building something meaningful that can make the world a better place. What happens if you seek a capital return and come up dry? What do you have then? Sadly, you have nothing but a lot of wasted time and energy. What if you build something that makes a difference, but still does not pay out? At least then you can be proud of building something great. Never do things for the money – you have everything to lose. Do things for the challenge, the value to the world, and for yourself. Build something you can be proud of, something rewarding in and of itself.
Call It A Day
I can think of few things more unfulfilling and overwhelming than leaving an incomplete pile of work on your desk at the end of the week. You feel like you don’t deserve the weekend. But you do. That work will keep coming and coming. Sometimes you just need to let go.
I’ve found that it’s better to draw the line in the sand on your to-do list first thing every morning. Realistically outline and prioritize the tasks you think you can complete in one day and set the rest aside. Do not let the other tasks bother you. Fold them up and hide them – whatever it takes to focus and feel like you accomplished the list you’ve reasonably committed to.
I’ve turned into a sticky note junkie. I’ve found that the size of a sticky note keeps your list focused, finite and reasonable. I try not to commit to more than one sticky note per day. Nothing feels better than to crumple complete notes and throw them away at the end of the day. You should try it sometime.
Profit Is Not the Point
The goal is sustainability. We make money to cover our basic needs – food, water and shelter. The great businesses of our time have figured this out, too. Great product comes before profit – because only great product will keep customers coming back for more. We like steady paychecks and loyal patrons because we can sleep at night and know that life will go on.
The goal isn’t to make money; the goal is to exist. Once you’ve figured that part out, the next goal is to exist longer. Once you realize no one lives forever, the ultimate goal is to leave a legacy.
The only way you can leave a legacy is if you concern yourself less with profit and more with giving life all you’ve got. Sure, you should have a plan to make money. But if greatness comes first on your priority list, then have faith that the rest will follow.
Sacrifice Only When Worthy
It’s not worth losing sleep over anything undeserving of your sacrifice. Trivial tasks that won’t matter in twelve months should never warrant pain. If the little things do not add up to important big things, then set them aside and call it a day. Only kill yourself for the greater good, the higher context, and the meaningful mission. But please do not literally kill yourself – I do not recommend it.
Marry the Man or Marry the Mission
I’ve seen a lot of relationships collapse because partners failed to compete with the work or passion of their significant others. Especially in Hollywood, where living the dream and working 18 hours per day takes priority over all else. There are two different kinds of people – those who live for life and those who live for their dreams. The former tends to put people first; the latter tends to put the mission first, whatever that mission may be. There’s no right or wrong, better or worse. But when you are trying to engage in an intimate relationship with another person, it is very important to identify the type of person you are with. The disconnect comes when one party invests first in the relationship and the other invests first in the mission. You can fight the disconnect all you want to. But when a person’s love is unwavering or his or her mission is unwavering, you may never win. If the mission comes first, you need to fall in genuine love with the mission. Or move on.
Save the Best For Last
Deliberately procrastinating the bad may hamper your ability to completely enjoy the good by the thought of the less favorable ahead. You risk spoiling the good for no reason (or at least enjoying it less than you could otherwise). Get the chores out of the way first (homework or Brussels sprouts), and save something to look forward to. Convince yourself that you are earning the dessert at the end of the meal. You’ll appreciate the victory even more.
Accelerating Forward By Dropping Stuff
Sometimes the most effective way to move on in your life is to let things go. Identify the people, places, and things that make you unhappy or hold you back. Surmise a life without them and calculate out how to get there. Throw away the trash, any relics that tie you backward, your toxic environment, or regressive relationships. Dump all the weight on your shoulders over the side. Only then will you truly feel free to take the next step in full. The more you let go of at once, the more dramatic your acceleration forward will be.
Like monkey bars on a jungle gym, you must let go of the old to reach the new. Empty your pockets, cut the ropes, and ignore the shouts as you leap forward. The only person who can move you forward is you.
A Grain of Sand in the Universe
Without question, nature inspired me this weekend. The world is so much bigger than we are, so much older, so much wiser. To comprehend how instantaneous and fractional our lives are in the grand scope and age of our planet and the universe is very humbling. Problems with traffic, bills, chores, jobs, and other people seem so meaningless while lying under billions of stars at night. Quite an experience.
When struggling with personal woes, step back for a second and remember: you are not alone. You are part of something grand, something much larger than yourself. You play a role not only in humanity, but in the greater scheme of the universe. When small problems seem like a big deal, try to remember that there are stars collapsing and entire worlds ripping apart out there. Count your blessings. And remember this: we have it pretty good.
Love life, live in awe of the universe, and make it count.
Craig Ormiston 