I met up with a friend a few days ago and our conversation really made me think of decisions and priorities. Some of my decisions in the past few years have made that I don’t see my friends as much as I used to.
When you’re a kid, most decisions are made for you. Then, as you grow-up, decisions are increasingly yours to make. There are so many decisions a person can make at a time. We can only hold 5 to 9 bits of information at a time. As a result we need to determine what our priorities are to help make our decisions. Priorities will narrow down the amount of decisions you need to make or make it easier to decide between option A or option B.
Decisions and priorities
The internet has allowed us to have more control over our personal brand and our careers. So I decided to invest more time in my online presences. I spend some time on Facebook because that has helped me stay in touch with friends and coworkers. Then there’s Twitter that has allowed me to meet some interesting people over the past few years. There’s also Google+ — it’s new and offers lots of promises. LinkedIn has really helped my career so I put a lot of effort there. Finally there’s [fabricecalando.com] that takes up a lot of my time and has helped me and my career as I share thoughts and ideas. I also have some great projects coming in 2012 which have been taking up some time. Finally, I’m starting a new job in the new year which is exciting but will take up some extra time as well.
Those, along with my family, are my priorities in the near future. Unfortunately, that leaves less time for other things.
Constant revisions
There are only 24hrs in a day so it’s important to review priorities from time-to-time. Of course, this time of the year is a great time to review what you want to accomplish. But let’s not wait until the new year to figure it out. I once read that, at work, it’s better to give employees constant feedback than only wait for the yearly review to address strengths and weaknesses (I don’t remember the source, sorry). Apply that to yourself as well. Take time once in a while to figure out if you’re on the right track.
How often do you review your priorities?
(Photo credit: Anne-Lise Heinrichs)
