Have you done those exercises where you write out your priorities or values? It is easy for me to put on paper what I care about, but where are my time and energy really going?
In this season of survival mode for our family, we have really stripped away a lot of what we usually do, and it is easy for me to say that we aren't very consistent in things that I wish we were better at.
But as I sat pondering this one morning during my scripture study, I realized that I actually AM consistent at some things, even in survival mode, and those things are my true priorities. I wrote three different lists to help me get a more realistic picture of what I care about with not just my words but my actions, and then I evaluated and made changes from there.
In this week's episode, I walk you through the entire process, using my answers as an example to get you started. Once again, I just used a Think and Process page in my Thriving in Motherhood Planner for this exercise.
3 Questions to Determine Your True Priorities:
What am I consistent at?
What am I almost consistent at but drop the ball quickly when things are hard?
What is done occasionally that you wish was more consistent?
Once you've written your lists, ask these follow-up questions to help you evaluate and make changes:
Is there anything obvious you would like to change?
Is there an easy swap from something that is more consistent that doesn't matter as much to something that is less consistent and matters more?
What needs more accountability?
What could you create a system around so that it doesn't require as much from you?
I realized that a lot of the things that I drop in a hard season, I am pretty good at picking up again once I have available energy. But there are some things that are done more occasionally that I realized I need to create systems around to give my kids more responsibility to be consistent in certain areas.
After going through this process, it clarified to me where I need to devote more time, energy, and resources to make the biggest impact on consistently living out our priorities.
The Power of Actually Writing Down my Morning and Evening Routines [Episode 121]
Lower Your Expectations and Love it with Tiana Woodbury [Episode 120]
Getting Ready for Baby (or Any Other Life Change) [Episode 119]
Peace, Joy and Contentment: A Two Year Growth Journey and One Simple Change with Jeni Awerkamp [Episode 118]
Establishing and Living Our Family Values [Episode 117]
Making Yourself the Top Priority with Jessica Ralston [Episode 116]
The Three Pillars of Thriving [Episode 115]
Living Authentically as a Mother with Annette Pimentel [Episode 114]
How I Finally Learned to Clean My House! [Episode 113]
Deciding to do Things Differently with Hannah Rust [Episode 112]
The Importance of Taking Care of Ourselves First So We can Continue to Give with Britney Grover [Episode 111]
Two Year Celebration, What's Next for Thriving in Motherhood - and 3 Invitations for YOU! [Episode 110]
What I do When I Start to Lose It [Episode 109]
How We Strengthen our Marriage During Hard Times with Andrew Jackson [Episode 108]
How I Completely Changed How I Experience Motherhood [Episode 107]
Let's Do a Monthly Review Together! [Episode 106]
How to Add Variety to Your Meals During Shelter in Place [Episode 105]
The Power of Family Stories During Hard Times [Episode 104]
How to Get Out of Survival Mode [Episode 103]
Feeling Overwhelmed? Let's do a Quarterly Review Together! [Episode 102]
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