goals
Setting Life Priorities: Figuring
Out What Is Important to You
Overview
Tips for figuring out what is important to you and making sure your life reflects these priorities.
• Step 1: Thinking about your priorities
• Step 2: Setting goals based on what’s most important to you
• Tips for setting achievable goals • Put your goals in writing
There are two types of priorities: short-term priorities and long-term priorities. Short-term priorities include your daily to-dos: tasks at work and home, such as finishing a report, cooking dinner, or helping your child with homework. Long-term priorities, or life priorities, are the relationships and activities that make us happy, the things that really matter in life. In this article, you’ll find information and advice about figuring out what is really important to you and making sure your life reflects these priorities.
Step 1: Thinking about your priorities
It’s easy to figure out your priorities for the day or even for the week. You know generally what needs to get done and how to do it. But figuring out what’s important to you in your life -- what makes you truly happy -- and learning ways to fit those things into your everyday schedule can be challenging.
The first step is to begin identifying your priorities. Everyone has different priorities. Yours might be spending time with friends or family, advancing your career, taking care of yourself through diet or exercise, or being involved in your community. The following exercise can help you begin to understand what’s most important to you in the different parts of your life. In the spaces below each category, write down the activities or tasks you’d like more time for in that part of your life.
These might include working on a special project at work, developing and encouraging the people on your team, working with your child to overcome a reading problem, or applying to graduate school.
Here are some questions that can help you think
Out What Is Important to You
Overview
Tips for figuring out what is important to you and making sure your life reflects these priorities.
• Step 1: Thinking about your priorities
• Step 2: Setting goals based on what’s most important to you
• Tips for setting achievable goals • Put your goals in writing
There are two types of priorities: short-term priorities and long-term priorities. Short-term priorities include your daily to-dos: tasks at work and home, such as finishing a report, cooking dinner, or helping your child with homework. Long-term priorities, or life priorities, are the relationships and activities that make us happy, the things that really matter in life. In this article, you’ll find information and advice about figuring out what is really important to you and making sure your life reflects these priorities.
Step 1: Thinking about your priorities
It’s easy to figure out your priorities for the day or even for the week. You know generally what needs to get done and how to do it. But figuring out what’s important to you in your life -- what makes you truly happy -- and learning ways to fit those things into your everyday schedule can be challenging.
The first step is to begin identifying your priorities. Everyone has different priorities. Yours might be spending time with friends or family, advancing your career, taking care of yourself through diet or exercise, or being involved in your community. The following exercise can help you begin to understand what’s most important to you in the different parts of your life. In the spaces below each category, write down the activities or tasks you’d like more time for in that part of your life.
These might include working on a special project at work, developing and encouraging the people on your team, working with your child to overcome a reading problem, or applying to graduate school.
Here are some questions that can help you think