Set Priorities To Lose Weight
I'd like you to ask you a question that you probably haven't
considered for quite some time: What's important to you? Is it
your family, your health, friendships, your integrity, your
career, your faith or the amount you have in the bank? What's
important to you.....really important? Take a few minutes to
carefully think about your answer. You might even want to write
down the top five things that are important to you.
For many of us, this is a question we rarely (if ever)
consciously ponder. Yet, every single day of our lives we are
asked that same question - just not in so many words. It's also
true that every single day we answer that question. We answer
not with our words, but with our actions.
What we do every day tells us what we really think is important.
To get an unclouded and transparent snapshot of what we hold to
be true priorities, all we have to do is examine how we use our
time, how we give our attention, and where we commit our
resources.
If you took the time to write down the top five priorities in
your life, go back to that list now and really honestly think
about how much time you devoted to each of those last week. Be
honest! Nobody will see these answers but you.
What many people find when they complete this exercise is that
they are actually spending very little time on what's important
to them. Did you list friendships as one of your life
priorities, only to realize that you haven't spoken with your
best friends for weeks? Perhaps you consider family to be a
valuable priority, yet you canceled the family vacation again
this year due to work issues.
Or, like most people, maybe you listed good health as a top
priority in your life. Yet you haven't made the time to exercise
for days, weeks, months or even years.
Later in life, when stricken with a dangerous and deadly
disease, people often say "I'd give every dollar I have if I
could just get my health back." By contrast, no one ever says,
"I'd give up my health if I could just get a few more bucks." No
one ever says that, but a lot of people live as though they
believe it.
It's time for a moment of truth: are your priorities what you
thought they were? Does how you spend your time match up with
what you listed as life priorities?
After going through this process, most people realize that they
are spending far too little time on one of their top priorities:
their health. Look carefully at the actions you have taken in
the past regarding your health, and then look at the results.
Does your reality parallel your priority list? Success in
health, fitness and weight loss will not come from a priority
list or what we think we'd like to achieve, but only from what
we actually do day in and day out. The actions we took yesterday
led us to where we are today, just as the actions we take today
will determine where we end up tomorrow.
Take out that list of life priorities again and tape it up on
the bathroom mirror for the next few weeks. Each morning you'll
be reminded of what's truly important to you, and you'll have
the chance to organize your day so that you spend time on what's
important.
At this point in time, right NOW, your life is a clear picture
of what has been important to you in the past - of what you have
been committed to accomplishing. With that fact in mind, ask
yourself one final question: what's important to you now?