Priorities: How to Stay Focused on What Matters

 

 

We all have our priorities, and some things obviously take precedence over others.

But in an age of increasing abstraction, we can become so overwhelmed that we lose sight of things.

Essentially, we go into information overload-mode and everything is sort of put on a level playing field — filed away under the catch-all category of “tasks.”

by Dane Findley

Priorities in the Age of Information Overload

We are part of a global civilization which is becoming exponentially more complex.

 
The addition of virtual reality into our everyday lives has spread us even thinner. We are acquainted with more people than ever before. We can, and do, have instantaneous communication with people living 12,000 miles away! As civilization increases in complexity, our daily lives — both real and virtual — respond in-kind.

There’s a competition for your mind. It sounds like the plot of a science fiction film. In reality, it’s just a fact of capitalism in the digital age. Companies are competing for the psychic space of individuals. And it’s not just corporations competing for your attention; Facebooking, searching, emailing, and texting are inundating us on equally staggering curves.

Information is doubling on a curve that would stand your hair on end. The implications down the road are a giant question mark. The rate of information doubling simply renders prediction — an act based on extrapolation of current norms — impossible.

Let’s take a gander at some of the numbers:

• 1 A.D.: From this point forward, the first doubling of all available information did not occur until 1500 A.D.
• The next doubling occurred around 1750…just 250 years
• The next doubling occurred around 1900…just 150 years
• The next doubling was 1950…just 50 years
• The next doubling was 1960…just 10 years
• Then 1967…just 7 years
• Then 1973…just 6 years
• By 1982, the rate was every 3 years.
• By 1990, the rate was every 18 months

Today, it would be rather conservative to estimate that we experience more change in a year than was previously experienced in a millenium!

Historically, information doubling is the stuff that shifts paradigms (It’s an interesting exercise to look at the above dates and match up the corresponding historical shifts).

ncluded within the Longevity Lifestyle Kit is a companion guide that provides you with a fun and fascinating experiment to help you assess the current quality of your tribe. The exercises included within this e-Guide are revelatory! Purchase the guide separately, or save money purchasing the complete Longevity Kit — all 5 life-improving items bundled together, for the low price of $14.95.
 

28 Best Friends:
A Unique Social Experiment ~ Companion e-Guide, $4.95
 

This e-Guide help make the healthy relationships in your life more reciprocal and abundant. It has been proven that healthy relationships are the key to improved health and prosperity.

“…ultimately, it all comes down to your relationships.
Healthy relationships are what are most responsible
for bringing joy and prosperity into your life.
I use the 28 Best Friends guide as my ‘recipe’
for cultivating the relationships in my life that matter most!
I feel so energized about bringing more of myself
to the time I spend with my close friends and family.
As a read through the guide, I started wondering,
“Would I be in my friends’ 9-givers list?”
I hope I add something meaningful to their lives,
so hopefully the answer is yes!”

                  ~ Jared Knickmeyer, Estate Homes Sales Specialist
 

28 Best Friends will help you to craft a relationship list and a relationship action plan. With those two things — plus a positive attitude — you’ll be well on your way to improving your relationships, and therefore you’ll also be improving your health and prosperity, too.

28 Best Friends is an important part of a puzzle that any individual needs to put together for a successful life. Regardless of the length of your life, these steps will make your time on earth pleasurable for yourself and others around you.

This booklet is very hands-on, specific and logical. After the first reading, you might feel that the content is obvious and common sense. And it is! Things become obvious and common sense once someone puts them in the right order and presents them pedagogically.

The list of “questions to ask” provides solid grounding and opens your mind to reflect. I read that part several times to see if it fits my situation and life. After a while I realized that the questions got me thinking in the right direction. This is a great effect of this booklet. It helps you to reflect over your tribe. What more can be done? How can I expand? How can I contribute even more and better?

Do the exercises, even if your first reaction is not to. The effect after doing that is mind-blowing. Regardless of your tribe being super small or metropolitan. You need to see it on paper.

A pleasurable read! There were so many gems for me to collect. Dane writes accessible yet simplified, and has a great sense and feeling for the topic. These skills come from life experience as well as having produced a lot of material in the subject. The content, length, composition and design is just perfect!

                                                  ~ Shahram Khorsand, Sales Manager / CareFusion Sweden
 

If living a happy and healthy life is important to you — especially as you age — then you must pay attention to the relationships in your life.

Designed to help you do exactly that, 28 Best Friends: Your Own Social Experiment! is a practical companion guide to The Numinous Journey eBook and included within the new Longevity Lifestyle Kit:

 

While reading 28 Best Friends I got an a-Ha! moment — realizing that sometimes we experience unhealthy or unproductive relationships that affect our well-being. It is imperative to connect with the ones that matter and Dane profiles how to get it done beautifully and strategically in his book. Hands down, the book has the most effective tools in connecting with the ones that matter and eliminate the “junk” that affects us, preventing us from growing and living our best lives! For good friends and good times make Dane’s book your weekend read and improve your life!

                                            ~ Doina Oncel, Solutions Specialist for Non-Profits
 

Your 6 Fundamental Priorities

So, what are the implications today? Well, the more overwhelmed a person feels, the more every item holding space in his or her mind tends toward equal importance.

Our priorities blur.

If picking up your dry cleaning is on the same list as helping your son with a homework problem — and both are conceptualized as nothing more than tasks that need to be checked-off so that you can move on to the next one — something is amiss. As readers of this site know, I am a huge advocate of checklists. There’s nothing like scratching completed tasks off of your list. But not all tasks are created equal.

“we need to be cognizant of the three-dimensional nature
of our two-dimensional lists”

Often, we have default systems of prioritization that skew our relational lives. So, as we look at our various task lists, let us remember to periodically step back, step up, and see our lives from a broader perspective.

First, evaluate how you allocate your time, on average, each day. Here, there are little, practical things you can do to reduce the noise: turn off the television, say “no” to some invitations, limit your email exposure.

Next, and most importantly, see if your priorities are aligned with these 6 fundametal priorities:

• 1. honoring your physical health so that it can thrive

 

• 2. honoring your relationship with your spouse so that it can thrive

 

• 3. honoring your relationships with your children so that they can thrive

 

• 4. honoring your revenue-producing activities so that your career can thrive

 

• 5. honoring the relationship with the givers in your life so that your friendships can thrive

 

• 6. honoring your relationship with the planet so that you can leave it better off than you found it

I encourage you to pick up the Longevity Lifestyle Kit and experience the positive results it will have on your daily life. All five items in the kit are designed to work synchronistically.

Each items serve a specific purpose, and combined they become super powerful. Enjoy the value and savings of getting all 5 items together!

The kit includes a e-Book, an e-Guide, an e-Booklet, an e-List, and an e-Workbook. The anchor of the kit is The Numinous Journey, an eBook that utilizes principles of Success Psychology and is strategically crafted to facilitate an inner process, that will help make your exciting new lifestyle habits “stick!”

• ➊ How to Create a Strategy for Living a Fascinating Post-40 Life: The Numinous Journey
• ➋ A Unique Social Experiment: 28 Best Friends
• ➌ How to Get Seriously Organized Using Checklists: The Dane Technique
• ➍ Using Your Blender to Get Lean and Strong: 5 Best Smoothie Recipes
• ➎ Ingredients Guide for Freshly Made Green Smoothies: The Shopping List

 

 
We need to be cognizant of the relational, three-dimensional nature of our two-dimensional lists. Intellectually, we already know that not all tasks are created equal, but sometimes we slip into autopilot and an objective assessment of our lives reflects muddled priorities.

There are other priorities in life beyond these six listed above, but start with these six first. They are the fundamentals and to return to them is to refocus on what matters most. We express our spirituality and purpose best in earthly ways.