Priorities: The Compass that Guides the Journey

At the beginning of the year, I scheduled myself to write regularly on my website. I set clear priorities for my writing life based on my values. I love writing and had a beautiful new website I wanted to use to serve my reader. Yet, the box repeatedly remained unchecked at the end of the week. I’m embarrassed to admit how many weeks passed before I stopped to evaluate my deep resistance to writing. 

I stayed busy, though. I edited articles by guest contributors, posted on social media, coached clients, and keep all the plates spinning in the air. Lots of boxes were checked, and one important one remained empty - writing.

Goals motivate me, checked boxes bring satisfaction, and progress tells me I’m not stuck. With this in mind, I stay busy and keep moving forward. Until lost as a child in a forest at night, I discover the boxes I checked no longer matter to me. The progress I made is in the wrong direction. The dreams I set out to achieve are nowhere to be found. I may not be stuck, but I’m definitely lost.

Sound familiar?

If you are feeling stuck or lost in your creative life, you may need to recalibrate your compass. Let’s look at 3 ways to get your navigation system back online. 

Check Your Focus

Priorities drive the journey by keeping our values in focus. Goals, then, are the steps in the journey to move us toward a destination. Like the navigational system in our vehicles, priorities direct our time and efforts. When we begin to get off course, our priorities reroute us back to the path. As we discern which tasks get added to the list, we consult our priorities. If the task, relationship, or appointment is not in line? We do not add it to the list. Keep on trucking.

Ask yourself these questions to evaluate your priorities:

1. Why am I avoiding this task or project?
2. What is most valuable to me in this season of my life?
3. Is this my idea or God’s?

Be flexible.

After consideration, I was avoiding writing because I no longer cared about the topic. Writing regularly and for my reader still topped my list of priorities. However, a priority reroute emerged. My reader had changed. At the beginning of the year, I had one message, but along the way, God revealed a new message written into my life. It was time to be flexible and adapt to God’s new direction in my life.

My resistance was not to writing. My resistance was writing an old message on my new website. 

With this insight front and center, I began to check the writing box once again. My love of writing and desire to serve my reader now had a clear focus. The resistance disappeared, and a renewed vitality and joy returned to my creative life.

Pivot.

Are you willing to change course?

As you evaluate your priorities, keep in mind that our lives are in constant flux. Just as the seasons shift and change, so does our focus. Here are a few questions to help you be flexible as you pivot.

1. Have I outgrown this work, dream, or desire?
2. If so, what has God prepared me for in this season?
3. Do I need a fresh perspective from a close friend or family member?
4. What has changed in my life in the past 3 months, 6 months, or year?
5. Moving forward, what is one aspect of my life I would like to change?

Do you need help getting clear on your priorities and goal? I have a FREE 3-page resource for you to help: 5 Steps to Clarity. You can download it here. If you want more personalized help, let’s chat. You can book a FREE 20 minutes call with me here.