Each day you are faced with a million different choices. What will you have for breakfast? What will you wear for work? What do you want to tackle first at work? All of the choices you make in a day are what make up your life.
The question is:
Are you choosing your goals and priorities over other things you could be doing with your time?
You probably said no to this. You might even realize that just today you’ve already been asked to do something that wasn’t focused on your goals or priorities. Now you are wondering, “When was the last time I put my goals and priorities first? Have I ever?”
Something always seems to get in the way of you putting yourself first and choosing to create your life. Instead, it feels like you are living your life based on someone else’s whims. Someone else’s goals take precedence over your own.
Sometimes it’s your boss. Sometimes it’s your friend. Sometimes it’s your family. There always seems to be someone or something that takes your time away from YOU.
It’s not them that takes the time away though. It’s you who chooses to allow it to happen. You choose to put them first.
You may be telling yourself right now, “But I’m being flexible”
When you continue to be flexible in this way, you are giving your life away. You are letting your goals go by the wayside. But there is a way to embrace being flexible and still choosing to create your life.
Think about it for a moment.
How can you be flexible and still choose you?
You can be flexible without throwing your life away.
By being intentional about your flexibility, you are able to choose yourself more. You are able to see how you can say yes to others and still put yourself first.
What does it look like?
It might look like:
• Asking a few more questions when someone asks for your help. Maybe digging into when they actually need something done, instead of assuming that they need it immediately.
• Asking for an exchange of help. Instead of putting all your stuff on hold, you help them and they help you.
• Allowing yourself to take a break. Say no to other priorities for the day and rest.
When you start to allow yourself to be intentional with your flexibility, you will see that you can embrace being flexible in a way that allows you to thrive.
About the Author
Jamie Martin is a Life and Leadership Coach who helps women who have been going and going and going for so long that they feel like they’ve lost themselves. Working with Jamie, her clients end up giving themselves permission to put themselves first, creating a plan and going after their dreams.
Her 17 year career in technology companies like DoubleClick and Google, combined with intensive coaching certification, gives Jamie a unique perspective into what it takes to make a significant transformation for her clients. Jamie is also writing her first book on infertility and is an amateur photographer with thousands of pictures from her trips around the world.
Jamie presented “How to Make Time for YOUR Goals, Even if You’re Drowning in To-do’s” as part of AWC’s Know to Grow webinar series. AWC members can access this webinar and other past webinars by visiting womcom.org/ProDevLibrary
