Productivity and Priorities

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about priorities. The idea is simple, right? You set priorities and you live by them. But lately, I'm realizing it doesn't always work like that. What if your priorities are out of whack for years of your life but you never realize it? Let me tell ya from experience and recent reflection, it can create a lot of confusion.

I have always valued living a healthy lifestyle. The idea of it just excites me and always has. Hell, I devoted my career to it. So obviously, I live it, right? Always sleeping 8 hours a night... Always eating well... Exercising... Etc. But as you may have guessed, the story goes a bit deeper than that...

What happens when you have a lot of other values and goals in your life that you want to put on the top of your priority list? Lets say that you value your health, but also your family, your friends, your education, and your happiness. Just for kicks we'll throw in running, extracurricular activities, being in a relationship, excelling in school, going above and beyond to win awards and go onto the next educational step, reading and improving knowledge of world events, learning to play guitar, learning about new beer, keeping up with the NFL and placing winning bets, following Spartan basketball and football, traveling, community service, and tutoring. That enough? Because I could go on...

When I write it all out, I feel like an idiot. But literally, that list represents a pretty good chunk of the values/goals I've had in my life, a lot during college but I was still trying to fit many of them in in grad school as well. Great aspirations, right? The problem? I TRIED TO DO THEM ALL AT ONCE.

Ironically, the very first things that goes out the door as a default? Sleep. Eating or drinking substances that don't contain caffeine. And meals that take more than 2 minutes in a microwave to prepare (thats not entirely true, sometimes I made boxed Pasta Roni which takes about 15 including scarfing 2 servings and a quick clean up). And we all know what that leads to, but in case you don't, I'll paint you a picture. It leads to a manic student who is constantly completely exhausted yet still pounding Monster drinks to pull all-nighters to study for a Advanced Physio exam that she took as an elective.

Ironically, during college and even a bit into grad school until very recently, I honestly did not see the connection. I thought if I worked hard enough things would get better, stress would go down, things would get easier, I would just have to improve. Meanwhile, I'm giving my body 3-4 hours a night on weekdays and binge-sleeping on the weekends, shoving my face with whatever foods are nearby, drinking inordinate amounts of sugar free (healthy) red bull, bags of Baked (healthy) lays, and powering through like its all okay. I look back at my old journal entries and emails to friends about my level of utter exhaustion and fatigue and its SO SO clear to me now.

The solution? Health FIRST, other things, second, and prioritized by true importance to me. In other words, start listening to those flight attendants! Put your own oxygen masks on first. Otherwise you're gonna do a half-ass job of everything anyways and be semi-miserable the entire time due to exhaustion and poor health, so whats the point? And set your priorities in ways that really reflect what you value. For me, writing witty comments in a blog, learning to master the guitar, and training to win marathons are not priorities right now (hence the several month hiatus from blogging). What are my priorities? I finally figured it out: 1) health and well-being, then we have 2) my education, 3) socializing (friends, family, MSU alumni club), 4) and pursuing other activities as time permits. Its really that simple.

Making this simple list and mentally referring back to it as I make choices on how to spend my time has made me about a billion times happier and healthier. I prioritize time for sleep, healthy eating, exercise, and restful relaxation over all other things and low and behold, productivity actually improves on the things that make the top of the list! I'm powering through my masters thesis, enjoying it more than ever, and I'm days ahead in my school work. And, I'm doing more restful things than ever without feeling guilty (e.g., Scrubs episodes are my current mindless activity). The only other difference is I've had to accept the fact that perhaps I wont conquer the world of music, blogging, travel, and sports during grad school and perhaps not ever depending on how my priorities evolve. But guess what? If I decide I want to make set those things farther up on the list, I can. And I like having that kind of power over my life. After all those years of fighting for it. Who knew a simple priority shift was so key? The only difference, I no longer believe I can do it all at once while maintaining my sanity.

Sadly, blogging is not so high on the list right now, so you will likely hear from me less as my program becomes more intense and priorities continue to shift. But since I'm so ahead on my work today, I just thought I would share how one simple adjustment in that list has changed thing for me. On my way out, I'll just pose this simple question, do you know what your priorities are???