How to Make Room for What’s Important With a Simple 5-Second Exercise
It’s easier to accomplish any goal when you make it your top priority. That often means focusing less on something else in your life – or eliminating it altogether – to make room for what now has to be done.
Let’s say you and your spouse are planning for the arrival of your first child – and you’ve made it your number one goal to make sure everything goes smoothly. Well, that’s going to take a lot of time. Regular visits to the ob-gyn… setting up the nursery… reading up on child care. Doing all that requires you to make adjustments to what had been your schedule.
By deciding in advance what you can take out in order to make room for what you are going to put in, you will be ahead of the game.
Try this little exercise to see what I mean…
My goal is to ______________________________.
I can take out _________________________ and ____________________ to make room.
For example:
- My goal is to exercise regularly.I can take out staying up late and I can get up earlier to make room.
- My goal is to spend more time with my spouse.I can take out playing golf every Sunday and nights out with friends to make room.
- My goal is to increase sales.I can take out unimportant meetings and long lunch hours to make room.
Can you see how this works? Now it is your turn!
Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a Word document, create the template shown above, and start filling in the blanks.
I promise this will help you keep your goals on track, put them back on track, or get yourself started in the right direction.
MaryEllen’s Secret to Enjoying a Balanced Life
MaryEllen Tribby, Publisher and CEO of Early to Rise, is brimming with energy and a passion for excellence in business. She is also married and has three beautiful children.
MaryEllen has a lot on her plate in all areas of her life. She is often asked how she can possibly balance running a multimillion-dollar company AND managing her home life. In an article she wrote for ETR – The Balancing Act That’s Up to You – this mega-successful working woman, wife, and mother gave much of the credit to taking three simple steps:
- Step #1. Having the Right Attitude
- Step #2. Making the Right Choices
- Step #3. Developing the Right Relationships
In the article, MaryEllen shared a story to illustrate Step #2. As it happens, that same story can be applied to my message today.
She had an opportunity to attend a major networking party in Texas. Everyone who is anyone in the information publishing industry was going to be there. She immediately RSVP’d, and began thinking about all the deals she could make that would benefit ETR.
But while reviewing her travel plans with her husband, he pointed out that she would be away on the first day of the new school year. With three young kids in school, this is a huge event in MaryEllen’s world. She wanted to be there!
So even though her husband encouraged her to go, assuring her that he could handle the excitement of the first day of school without her… no way was MaryEllen going to miss it. After thinking through the consequences of missing the networking party or missing the first day of school, she made the decision to send someone else to Texas.
If she had used our little “take out” exercise, she would have come to the same conclusion. She probably would have done it this way:
My goal is to be present at my children’s first day of school.
I can take out the networking event and find time later to talk to or meet with everyone I would have seen that day to make room.
Your Personal Balancing Act
MaryEllen is the first to admit that she is not Superwoman. The truth is, she sincerely believes everyone can have a balanced life.
“You just need to want it… and act to achieve it,” she says.
That works for me, and I am betting it will work for you. You can find your own personal balance by using my “take out” exercise to help manage your priorities. It’s all about taking ownership of what you want – and making room for the good choices you need to make to get your goals done.