Last week I wrote about priorities and how we often talk about our priorities but our actions don’t always match up with the talk.

As parents we say things like our health is a priority but we don’t eat properly. Or we say our marriage is a priority but we haven’t gone a date night since the kids were born. Sound familiar?

When you add onto that occupational therapy appointments, speech therapy appointments, behaviour consultant appointments, doctors appointments, etc. etc. there just never seems to be enough time in the day.

Well, I’m here to tell you, we’re going to find that time back! It’s there, it’s just hiding.

This week we’re going to put our actions where our mouth is. Or at least we’re going to start moving in that direction. Baby steps…I know!

I have an exercise for you to do this week that will really help you prioritize things and find time for the most important things in your life.

This is an exercise I take parents through when I’m helping them transition to the GFCF diet and they are trying to fit in new routines that align with their priority of health for their child. I’ve used it myself a couple of times when I felt the need to realign my daily actions with my true priorities.

Before you start you’ll need a few things:

So I want you to print off this one week planner.

This planner only has the hours listed. Write in the half hours in between.

The other thing you’ll need is 4 or 5 highlighters or coloured pencils.

Next, I’d like you to read this little story:

The Jar of Life

One day, an old professor of the School of Public Management in France, was invited to lecture on the topic of “Efficient Time Management” in front of a group of 15 executive managers representing the largest, most successful companies in America. The lecture was one in a series of five lectures conducted in one day, and the old professor was given one hour to lecture.

Standing in front of this group of elite managers—who were willing to write down every word that would come out of the famous professor’s mouth—the professor slowly met eyes with each manager, one by one, and finally said, ‘we are going to conduct an experiment’.

From under the table that stood between the professor and the listeners, the professor pulled out a big glass jar and gently placed it in front of him. Next, he pulled out from under the table a bag of stones, each the size of a tennis ball, and placed the stones one by one in the jar. He did so until there was no room to add another stone in the jar. Lifting his gaze to the managers, the professor asked, ‘Is the jar full?’ The managers replied, ‘Yes’.

The professor paused for a moment, and replied, ‘Really?’ Then once again, he reached under the table and pulled out a bag full of pebbles. Carefully, the professor poured the pebbles in and slightly rattled the jar, allowing the pebbles to slip through the larger stones, until they settled at the bottom. Again, the professor lifted his gaze to his audience and asked, ‘is the jar full?’

At this point, the managers began to understand his intentions. One replied, ‘apparently not!’

‘Correct’, replied the old professor, now pulling out a bag of sand from under the table. Cautiously, the professor poured the sand into the jar. The sand filled up the spaces between the stones and the pebbles. Yet again, the professor asked, ‘is the jar full?’ Without hesitation, the entire group of students replied in unison, ‘No!’

‘Correct’, replied the professor. And as was expected by the students, the professor reached for the pitcher of water that was on the table, and poured water in the jar until it was absolutely full. The professor now lifted his gaze once again and asked, ‘What great truth can we surmise from this experiment?’

With his thoughts on the lecture topic, one manager quickly replied, ‘We learn that as full as our schedules may appear, if we only increase our effort, it is always possible to add more meetings and tasks.’ ‘No’, replied the professor.

‘The great truth that we can conclude from this experiment is: If we don’t put all the larger stones in the jar first, we will never be able to fit all of them later.’

Isn’t that great?! I LOVE that little story.

Okay, now let’s put this into action. I want you to think of 4 or 5 of your big priorities in life, the stones in your life. For many people these are health, family, work, household management and time to them self.

I want you to add up all of the waking hours you have in a week. For most people it’s somewhere around 112 hours. I then want you to take a look at these different “stones” in your life and decide how many hours you’d like to ideally be spending on each one.

Assign one colour of highlighter to each of these. Then take a look at the first day on your daily planner starting with the time you get up. Using your highlighters start marking your day according to how you spend it using these 4 topics as your guidelines.

For example, I have a little “me” time when I first get up because I get up before everyone else. Then from about 6:30am to 9am it’s family time as I get everyone fed, dressed and to their various destinations. From 9am to 10:30am I have work time. Then 10:30am to 10:45am I have a little break which might be “me” time or might be “household” time if I’m doing something like throwing some laundry in. Back to work by about 10:45am to noon. Then some “me” time as I eat lunch and maybe read a book. Then back to work, then pick up kids, then tidy the house, then make dinner, then….

You get the idea!!

Now add up the hours for each different colour you’ve used and compare that with how many hours you said you would IDEALLY like to be spending in each area.

Hmmmm…..is it even close?

Don’t worry if it’s not. That’s what this is all about! This is about recognizing where our talk is not matching our actions.

Okay, that’s it for this week! I’ll leave you to sit with that and next week we’ll take the next step in moving toward our aligning our actions with our true priorities.

Now, to reward you for all of your hard work…

Another Giveaway! – Rhinestone Heart Necklace from Fabulous Accessories

This gorgeous necklace has been donated by Nicole from Fabulous Accessories. At a Fabulous Accessories party you can indulge your friends with the Ultimate Personal Shopping Experience. Shop for current, trend-setting fashion accessories! It’s casual, no pressure and most of all Fun!! The Prices are Fabulous and hostess rewards are great!!

If you’d like to see more of what Nicole has to offer visit her facebook page or her website.

How to Enter!!

You can enter up to 4 times by doing each of these things.

1. Visit Nicole’s website and come back and let us know what your favourite item is.

2. Visit Nicole’s Facebook page and leave a comment under the giveaway post on her wall.

3. Leave a comment below about your biggest surprise in doing this week’s Jar of Life exercise.

4. Everyone who subscribes to the Apples to Oranges Newsletter will get another entry.  (Don’t worry, if you already subscribe, I’ll give you another entry for being a loyal fan.

Good luck!!  The winner will be announced next Monday, January 30th.

Last week’s winner of the Robin’s Egg Necklace is Victoria L.  Congrats!!

 

Pin It

Filed under: Uncategorized