14 Feb Important things that should be prioritised, but too often aren’t
Most of us know what we “should” do for more health and happiness, for a better life. But most of us also … don’t do these things; or at least not as well or as often as we could.
This is what I call “the knowing-doing gap”; and it’s important because it means many of us are not as happy or successful as we could be!
There are many reasons for this knowing-doing gap but the one on which I want to focus today is the one within which we don’t prioritise that which is important, we often don’t do the most critical tasks and activities that would generate more wellbeing.
Again, there are many reasons for this but one of the most significant causes is that we allow seemingly “urgent” activities to override really “important” ones. I’ve written about this before but today, I want to focus on it in a slightly different way.
Today, I want to invite you to think not about why the seemingly urgent matters seem to dominate our attention and energy, but why the really important factors don’t!
Now, what’s really important for you may well be different to what’s important for me. We’re all different, and we all have different definitions of health and happiness, we all have different life goals.
But regardless of this, there are some common factors that most of us should consider important most of the time; factors that if neglected, will have a seriously negative impact on the quality of our lives.
What are these? Well how about …
… clarity of long-term purpose, quality sleep, good nutrition and adequate physical activity or exercise, positive relationships and a grateful attitude, to name just a few.
Now I don’t think many people would question that these are good things to do but consider this … what would happen if you didn’t attend to any of them?
I’ll tell you what; nothing! At least nothing in the short-term. As noted, over the longer term there will undoubtedly be negative consequences but herein lies the problem. Most of us aren’t that good at thinking longer term. So we priorities what seems important in the short term and as a result, tend to ignore or de-prioritise all that’s really important in the long run.
As is often the case, within most problems lies the solution.
And the solution to this comes from asking yourself something like … what will be best for me in a month or a year (rather than just in the next minute)? What’s the “right” thing to do, rather than the easiest thing to do?
None of this means you can’t have fun or enjoy the moment or that you have to always be “good”, but if you could put even just a small amount of additional energy into some of these factors, you’ll be far more likely to enjoy real and meaningful happiness, a happiness that’s more likely to endure and go deeper than the superficial quick fixes we too often seek.