What Are Your Priorities?

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."
-Ben Stein

At the end of every winter as warm weather and sunshine approach, I find myself keenly aware of where I'd like to be spending my time. Outside as much as possible! I think the changing of the seasons is a great time to re-evaluate our life and what areas we would like to change. After all, if you don't know what you want, it's impossible to get it.

Take a moment now to evaluate your quality of life. Do you know what you want from this life before your time is over? On the suggestion of a good friend, I sat down recently and wrote out a list of my personal priorities. It was a very eye-opening and useful experience. Once I could see clearly (on paper!) my true, personal priorities it was obvious what small changes I could make in order to more fully live my life the way I want. It is a very motivational experience that left me feeling fully "alive".

Thinking about your professional life, what are your priorities? You might want that promotion, corner office or dream job. It's important to have clear goals but you also need a plan to get yourself there. When you look at your choices each day, ask yourself if they are helping you make progress toward your envisioned future or not. Once you have identified the actions that are hindering you, it is easy to let them go. You can begin to focus on making more choices that are in-line with your professional vision and growth plan.

Take this opportunity to start new growth. Lay down some constructive plans for your quality of life and professional development. Who knows what your life could look like this time next year!

Deirdre Maigread McEachern is a personal coach who helps herclients experience more joy in their lives. You can contactDeirdre for a complimentary consultation at 207-439-4280 orjoin her free monthly newsletter at http://www.vip-coaching.com.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Coaching Information:

Related Articles

Top Ten Reasons to Hire a Personal Coach
Have you considered hiring a personal coach? Jack Canfield, in The Success Principles says hiring a "personal coach is one of the best-kept secrets of the successful."1.
Top Ten Things You Would Never Hear a Coach Say (or then again?!)
When coaching, it's all about the client, be that as a professional coach, or a line manager/business owner using coaching skills in their own business, with their own people. But it's so easy sometimes to turn the tables and be the client.
Attention! Thought Crossing! - Or, The Secret of What's Between Your Ears
What are you thinking - right now? 'I'm reading your article!' you say. Well, take a little bit of a closer look.
5 Tips to Improve ANY Performance
Seeking improved performance at work? Wishing you could finally achieve your sports-related goals? Merely looking for a way to get more out of everything you do? What follows are five basic skills (basic in that all top achievers know these skills and apply them in some form on a weekly basis) that will dramatically improve your performance.1.
Coaching May Be For You
Are you looking for someone who will hold you accountable to achieving your goals? Career coaching and mentoring may be what you need to accomplish what you really want in your career. Your friends and family certainly love you and want the best for you, but they can't always make the time to devote the necessary hours you may need to achieve your objectives and goals.
How to Slow Your Spinning Mind
Have you ever laid in bed trying to fall asleep, but your mind keeps spinning with all the things you need to do? Your thoughts just keep ticking?We wind ourselves up like a motor when we pile on more things than can possibly get done in the time frame have. When we rush to appointments, speed in the car, load up on coffee, smoke on our breaks and make it to places "just in time", it's no wonder some of us can have a hard settling in for the night.
Strategic Checklists
I've been through a couple of checklists in the past few days, and it's reaffirmed my faith in their effectiveness as a communication tool.Now, there are at least a couple of ways we can look at checklists in a communication context.
Kabbalah Coach: Love the One Youre With
IntroductionEvery one of us came to the planet to figure out how to experience love in the human form. It is amusing to observe all the ways we try to find love, especially since most of us don't even know what we are doing.
Sheep Do Not Start Out Lost
Have you ever thought about how sheep get lost? Even with a shepherd, they still get lost. How does this happen? The one thing I know for sure is that they did not start out lost.
A Sure-Fire, 10-Step Formula To Get Started As A Coach Or Consultant
"My guess is first I'll need some zippy flyers and a tri-fold brochure" said an email from Matt last week. Sadly, he is not the only one thinking that the first step to building a professional business is printing fliers and brochures.
Integrating Life and Work
Organizations are finally creating cultures that support a work and life balance for their employees. After years of demanding high productivity and increasing on the job hours and expectations and not achieving the hoped-for better results, companies are finally embracing polices and procedures that support employees in integrating their life and work experience.
A Live It
Real change happens only when it becomes part of our everyday life. When a change becomes a habit, it isn't something new we are trying, but becomes part of what we do as our routine.
Living In The Now
I hope you are sitting down as you read this! You cannot begin to work on this kind of subject without addressing the subject of time itself - and when was the last time you did that?There are three basic areas or modules of time that are most commonly referred to:1)The Past2)The Present3)The FutureWhat I would like to do is have you work out where the "present" is though. In the time it has taken you to read just those last few words, that space in time that we might refer to as the present has gone.
How Not Letting Go of Your Past can Hurt Your Future
Experiences, whether good or bad, are sometimes all wehave, and most of them reside in the past. So you may ask,why should I let go of my past when much of it is filledwith beautiful memories and serenity?Well, that is certainly not what I mean.
Guilt By Association & Wealth By It Too!
"Tell me what company thou keepst, and I'll tell thee what thou art." - Miguel de Cervantes (1547 - 1616) Spanish novelist.
7 Destructive Habits of Incompetent People
WARNING! If you want to have a fantastic life, never engage yourself in these 7 deadly habits that incompetent people do. NUMBER 1 - They Think, Say, & Do Negative Things.
Sometimes, It Just Takes ONE Conversation to Change Your Life!
I was thinking this morning about the importance of the profession that I am in. Besides doing various trainings, workshops and consulting, I also coach people.
5 Steps to Derail Difficult People - Your Surefire Way to a Peaceful Resolution
That one guy at work that always has to be right; your buddy's wife who can't eat anywhere they serve burgers, or the monster-in-law, I mean mother-in-law, with too many opinions for your own good, difficult people, we all know them. So the question is, is there a right and a wrong way to deal with them? The answer is yes, if you want to avoid unnecessary confrontations.
Coaching: The Art of Putting Yourself In Somone Elses Shoes
COACHING STEPS: The following are five (5) steps a coach can take to change behavior and performance. The goal of this process is to create the context for the person being coached towards one in which excellence becomes the norm.
Nothing is left to Chance
You are going to meet a very important client for lunch. What do you do? If you are anything like Anna the first job is to ensure the outside you is perfect, well dressed, matching clothes, clean shoes, washed in your favourite soaps, perfume.