Today when you make your to-do list, choose 3 priorities for your day. It might be work, family, house, or work, family, exercise... Go ahead and choose 5 if you can't narrow it down to 3. Family and interpersonal relationships should always make the list. If you're exhausted from family obligations, fun or relaxation should make the list.
It is easy to become upset at the most important people in our life when we run out of time or emotional energy. Those closest to us can become the object of resentment if we constantly feel pulled in a variety of different directions.
If you start with a priority list, it's easier to re-focus your limited amount of time and emotional energy on the things and people that are most important. Imagine a phone call to do something that wasn't on your list. How would you respond? Imagine spending hours on a new phone ap or television program that caught your attention. How will you handle those distractions?
Keep your priority list close by through the day. When you get lost in the pull of daily demands, check your actions against your list. If what you're doing in the moment doesn't match your priority list, shift gears.
A priority list vs. a to-do list also allows for flexibility. An unplanned trip to the doctor for a sick child, or a problem with the plumbing or a lengthy homework project can fall easily under a family category while they might have been viewed as frustrations or distractions on a to-do list.
Use your priority list to re-direct focus and emotional energy to the things that matter to you most, and those things become the source of your energy rather than the source of frustration.
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