Are you focusing on doing things right, or are you doing the right things?
That’s an important question to ask ourselves now and then.
It’s easy to get caught up in “the world” and what’s expected of us instead of focusing on what matters most.
Focusing on what seems most urgent is easy because it’s usually right before us; our employer wants the work done on a particular day, our clients are waiting for a call, and we must finish an assignment in school or go to that birthday party.
The urgent things often come with a lot of momentum. Society or other people ask things of us, and it is usually urgent (even though, if we look at it from a bigger perspective, most of it doesn’t matter that much – but when we are caught up in it, it can appear important).
So, the voices of our workplace, school, community, or outer environment will usually be the loudest in our lives, almost by default, unless we carve out time to focus on what matters and make sure that we spend time on those things.
It’s also important not to fall into the trap of thinking, “I’ll focus on my priorities when I have finished this work project or (fill in the blank),” – because there is always more to do. When this project is done, there will be another one (or ten more!).
So, to fill our lives with what matters, we need to start now.
What matters most usually has little to do with the urgent things in our lives. Instead, it can be our relationships with our partners, children, and family or our deep connection to the earth and life. Or an inner calling.
It may not be apparent all at once, but if we give ourselves time to reflect on what matters regularly and focus on doing the things we love, our inner voice will gradually become stronger than the outer voices.
And after a while, our lives will also begin to fill up with more of what we love and less of the urgent things that don’t matter to us.
After many years of inner work, my inner voice is now the strongest in my life, and if I feel the external voices coming in and taking up too much of my inner space again, I see that as a clear warning sign. And I make the necessary changes.
