Priorities

Prioritize

Priorities

Sheri Here,

The last couple of months have been a blur, between my husband’s passing, going away for a week, and a milestone birthday. The mania that accompanied all that activity was a bit overwhelming.

Whether it was the activities associated with the events or the feelings, good or bad, that arose as a result, it was a lot.

Identifying Priorities

After all that activity, while that’s all behind me, I’m now looking around and thinking, “Now what?” What does my life look like? What does life feel like? What’s the next indicated step?

Everywhere I look, the landscape has changed.

To say I’m disoriented is an understatement, but what is a constant in my life is the relationship with my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God.

Sometimes I must be reminded that God’s in charge – so what is the question?

My questions revolve around handling a new singlehood and living alone. I haven’t done that in about a quarter of a century, 25 years. Yes, it is a long time.

I’ve started to go to the gym. It’s been a while since I was last there, but it’s coming back, the old routine and now a new routine. But it’s still strange.

Coming home to a house exactly as I left it is also strange and yet there is comfort there.

Next Indicated Steps

Getting to new routines similar or not to old routines is hard. Everything has changed. Not bad, just change. How do we deal with change? How do we go through the process of revisiting every aspect of our lives? Where do we start?

We start with the most important priorities: food and shelter. Once that’s been taken care of then we can move on. By being an active participant in my life, not abdicating my responsibility for my self-care, I can more easily address those issues.

Ok, what’s next? Next depends upon one’s priorities. What are they? Do you have them? Have you revisited your personal priorities lately? Yes, I’ve asked some big questions; but priorities help us answer those questions! I’ve mentioned my priorities start with God, then my health and wellbeing, knowing those are managed, I can address the next items on my list.

What About You?

What are your priorities?

If your world is rattled by life circumstances, do you know what your next actions are?

Or even where to start?

If you’re struggling with your priorities now, change will make a mess of it. If you are ready to get your priorities in order and need help, call me here.

Let’s talk and work on it together. Sometimes two heads and hearts are better than one. Just a simple conversation can make all the difference in the world – contact me here.

Until the next time.

Ciao,

Sheri

P.S. No time like the present to revisit your life priorities since we’ve no idea what tomorrow will bring. Let’s talk, set up time here and let’s get started!

When the Unexpected Happens

Priorities

Sheri here –

In the last few months we’ve dealt with a lot of unexpected stuff. When the Universe gives you lemons, do you make lemonade or do you complain you got sour lemons? What is your response?

Ok, maybe lemonade isn’t your initial response, but do you eventually get there?

If you’re struggling with tolerance for when the unexpected happens, here’s a little lemonade recipe to help put things into perspective.

Back to the sour lemons… Recently, I had one of “those” days! One of those days, the unexpected happened! The dishwasher quit working, the furnace got red tagged and the cell phone got dropped in water.

Except for the dishwasher, the demise of these devices was somewhat expected. The furnace and my husband’s cell phone were living on borrowed time.

The furnace was over 40 years old. Even though we live in Southern California, in the past it was used for months at a time during cold weather.

The cell phone was old, sat on, dropped and generally just well used. It was still useful, sorta. But a burial in water may have been a bit extreme.

The dishwasher just quit–all the electronics stopped working. Fortunately, it was still under a service contract, so it was an easy fix for a knowledgeable professional who knew what they were doing.

Sure, these are problems of abundance. But when they all go kaput at the same time, within less than 24 hours, it is a bit overwhelming and very unexpected!

Yet within short order, solutions were in process for all of them. And I got a GREAT story out of it to boot!!

How Do You Handle the Unexpected?

Me–first, I get emotional (you can picture a mini-temper tantrum, right?). Then I roll my eyes upward to God and ask “Ok, now what” (a short prayer)? Finally, I spring into action.

What do you do? Do you know your “usual” response?

Seriously, though–getting into action (aka, making lemonade) is the key. It takes a bit of clear-headed thinking. And it can include: talking with someone else for perspective, asking for help (sometimes LOTS of help) and knowing your priorities!

Know Your Priorities

When the unexpected happens, you need to know your priorities!

Why priorities? Why are priorities important in this situation? Your Priorities Are Input into Your Decisions.

When you know your priorities, it helps answer the questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How?

Who can help us? Who do you lean on… a trusted friend or family member, maybe even a colleague depending on the situation?

What are your choices? For instance, with my furnace, it needs to be replaced, but other information on my priority list influences that decision. For instance, how long do we plan to live here? A couple of years or “forever.” If we choose the latter, then we might want to look at also installing air conditioning–now or in the future. That influences the heating solution.

While all those questions (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How) may not apply, they can drive other questions that create better solutions.

Sometimes when the unexpected happens to you–whether it’s mechanical failures, accidents, illnesses, job losses or the passing of loved ones, the answers aren’t always easy, and the time pressure may be intense.

What Are Your Priorities?

It’s important to know your priorities. Know where your faith, health, family, self-care and career/business rank on your list. Knowing those answers will support you in making decisions and in deciding who you can turn toward for help.

The same applies in your business or your career–knowing those must-do’s, your key activities will help sort out your action plan (the lemonade recipe) more swiftly. Those must-do’s may also determine how quickly you need to respond and whose help you need.

But you need your priorities in place long before the unexpected happens, long before the stuff hits the fan. Working them on the fly may not give you the best solution, and it will certainly cause you additional stress.

‘Til the next time…

Ciao,

Sheri

P.S. If you need help setting your priorities or to reaffirm them in the current environment, use this link to set up a call with me. You don’t have to do this alone.

P.P.S. Sheri’s Pucker Up Lemonade
Ingrediants: water, sugar, lemon juice.
Make a simple syrup by first heating the water and sugar together the sugar is completely dissolved, then mix that with the lemon juice.

Start with the following proportions:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
¾ – 1 cup lemon juice (depending on how sweet or sour you like your lemonade)

Make the simple syrup, combine with lemon juice, then add more water (and ice) to dilute the lemonade to your liking.

Prep time: 10 minutes Yield: Serves 6

Set Your Priorities and Focus

Priorities

Sheri here –

Have you ever spent time just overwhelmed with choices? And focusing on just one thing seemed impossible.

Too much to do and you don’t know where to begin! 

So, you start something entirely new!  Of course, that only makes it worse.

I have to say the last couple of weeks seemed like chaos squared.  Trying to find the focus point has been part of the problem.

Ok, I had a project I was working on and finally got it done – very successfully by my measures.  WooHoo!

But, there were so many other things demanding I spend time on them also.

How do you focus on one thing?

How do you decide what’s important?

How do you pick from all the projects that you have going on?

I don’t know about you, but I live in an overcommitted world.

I need a way to be able to prioritize, to make good choices, set boundaries and say no.

In the last couple of blogs, we spent a bit of time chatting about saying no and setting boundaries.  You can find those conversations in my blogs here and here .

Do you find it difficult to say no and set boundaries so you can focus on ONE thing?

Stop and get some clarity

One of the best ways that I’ve found to set priorities is to be very clear about my personal and business values.  My values drive my priorities and from that it drives where I spend my time.

If you’re not clear on your agenda, your priorities, and values, maybe it is time to stop and get some clarity.

Take this as an opportunity to put your relationships, your self-care, your time with your God, your service projects, your fun time and even how you spend money in perspective.  Assure that you’ve got your focus in the right spot – consistent with what is most important to you.

Setting your values and your priorities is an important self-care activity.  It might be hard to randomly say no to something, but when it is not even on your list of what’s important, it gets easier.

Then you can focus!

Ciao and hugs,

Sheri

P.S. Drop a comment below and share the top 5 things that are important to you, to your business.  The things that drives how you spend time.

P.P.S If you’re stuck, drop a comment and let me know how I can help!

Just Say No

Priorities

Sheri here –

Is it easy for you to just say no?

Or do you spend time overwhelmed by choices?  So, overwhelmed that you don’t do ANYTHING??

Or so much to do, you don’t know where to start, so you start something new.  Uh oh, am I the only one??

Or someone asks you to do something and you find it difficult to say No?

Sound at all familiar?

No is a Complete Sentence

The calendar fills up with stuff – the stuff you want to do, the stuff you need to do and the FOMO stuff.  FOMO – Fear of Missing Out.

Then something happens – it could be as simple as your stubbing your toe, literally or figuratively.

The other day, I was fixing dinner and accidentally cut my thumb.  Not bad, but there was blood involved.  For several days I realized how much I relied on that thumb and couldn’t use it.

It certainly was NOT life threatening, it was inconvenient.  I was not paying enough attention to the task at hand.  Not placing the focus on the right spot. 

I was distracted and hadn’t said NO to enough FOMO things and agendas of others.

Not enough NO.  

Certainly, it was a small inconvenience, but how soon will that overloaded calendar lead to a much larger inconvenience?

Focus on ONE thing,just ONE

Maybe you want a few peaceful moments for yourself without being tormented by indecision as to what to do next.

Maybe the problem is that you are NOT totally clear on what YOUR agenda is.  You aren’t clear on what YOUR priorities are.

How do you get that 10 minutes, that chance to focus on ONE thing?

How do you set boundaries and just say NO!

It is easier to set boundaries and say no, when you are clear on your agenda, clear on your priorities in all aspects of your life – personal and business.

If you’re crystal clear on your agenda, your priorities, and values – woohoo.  Now use them to say NO more often!!

Yes, it is easier said than done.  

This is a self-care process that starts with you

  • noticing you can’t list your top 3 – 5 personal or business priorities,
  • realizing they can help you make decisions and set boundaries,
  • willing to take the time and think about what is important to you.

If you are still stuck as to where to start, drop a comment below or an email here.

Ciao and hugs,

Sheri

P.S. Having priorities, setting boundaries and say NO is rigorous self-care! Need help doing that? Drop a comment below or drop me an email here 

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