What’s the number one reason why people put off their plans, goals, and dreams? “I just don’t have time right now”. How many times have you told yourself this in the past 24 hours? In the past week? Be honest with yourself. We all have fallen victim to this excuse, but it’s time to put yourself first.
The truth is, it’s not that you don’t have enough time, it’s that you aren’t choosing to prioritize these tasks, whatever they may be.
3 Tips to Put Yourself First
Pick one goal
Let’s take a look at Sarah and her goal of joining a yoga class. She’s never done yoga before and one of her major life goals is to become more active, so she wants to try out yoga. She’s done the research and found a great yoga studio within walking distance from her home, can comfortably afford to go to at least two yoga sessions a week, and even has a friend who attends yoga sessions there regularly.
So why doesn’t she go to yoga? She doesn’t have any barriers to success. The Tuesday yoga class rolls around and there’s nothing holding her back except for one simple excuse:
“I don’t have time to start today.”
She’ll use this excuse this week, and the next week, and the week after.
Reflect on your priorities
So what is Sarah doing in the meantime? What tasks must she do that are preventing her from going to yoga? Instead, she decides to make dinner for her family, do a load of laundry, or catch up on a TV show. But, are any of these tasks fulfilling her personal goals? Of course, making dinner and doing laundry are necessities, however, she isn’t placing enough importance on her personal goals. She won’t accomplish her goals until she values them just as much, or more than, these everyday tasks.
Take a moment to think about your current personal goals.
Now, what in life is more important than you achieving this goal? It’s perfectly normal to have a few things higher on the list; some will value their family, work, or friends over their own goals. However, if we only focus on others for our entire life, it’s nearly impossible to make any progress on ourselves.
If you can’t regularly put yourself first, then try to be a more self-seeking. Once you learn to value yourself and your own priorities, you’ll find that you’re more energized and able to help others, too.
Start with just one day
If you have trouble turning down your friends and family, then find a time each week that you can dedicate to yourself. Each week, use this time to work on a personal goal; whether it’s going to yoga like Sarah, writing in a journal, going for a walk, or learning to play an instrument. Once you have these plans made, don’t hesitate to tell others “I already have plans this evening.” and don’t cancel on yourself! Treat this time as if it were an appointment; you wouldn’t cancel it just for any reason. When you have this same level of dedication to your personal goals, this is when you’ll see changes in your lifestyle.
I urge you to sit down and write down your top personal goal, right now. Underline your goal, and underneath, write what is more important than your personal goal. Remember how easily you put off your personal growth just to do some of these other tasks? Now what happens if you put off these other tasks, and decide to work on your goal, instead? By putting off these tasks, some would bear consequences, and others, not so much. Cross off any tasks without consequences. For the others, determine a better time for you to accomplish them, or have someone help you with these tasks. Prioritize yourself.
You always have enough time. It’s up to you to determine your priorities.
With Fabulous, we can help you determine your priorities, and teach you how to put yourself first so you can start achieving your personal goals.
