I said my children were my priority, but were they?

How often have you found yourself saying ‘When I’ve done XYZ then I’ll find time for the other things’

The “other things” being the truly important things in your life.

I always say that my children are my main priority and I don’t just say it, I want it to be true.

But recently I realised my actions didn’t align with my words

Wednesday’s my day off with my children. A choice I made to have more time with them.

But I found myself working on my day off instead of spending time with them…..

The short-term return of booking one more call with a potential client or writing one more article to help people, actually became my priority over my children.

I also say my relationship is a priority, but again I found myself working in the evenings instead of spending quality time with my husband.

Again, I was focusing on the short-term return of doing that extra bit of work, rather than the long term investment that comes with putting time aside for your marriage.

We often put off investing in what we claim matters most, thinking those things will always be there.

We become so focused on the short-term returns of promotion, salary increase, recognition from the boss that we put off investing in what’s really important.

And by the time we realise those areas are in trouble it’s often too late to fix them.

So how does this relate to you and your career goals?

Your career is a HUGE part of your life.

It’s important your job is set-up in a way that supports your priorities outside of work.

So let’s do an exercise to find out what’s out of alignment and where your job might be the problem.

Exercise:

Ask yourself the following;

• What are my priorities in life?
• What are the areas I do not want to sacrifice for my career?
• Then go through your calendar and check if the way you are spending your time supports your priorities.

For example:

If you say your health is important how are you spending your time each week to support that? Are you spending most of your free time and money on habits that support your health or on nights out?

List the priorities that are not being invested in

• Work out what you need to be spending your time on to make it a priority
• Then work out how much of your time you need to invest each week in this priority.
• Work out what needs to change in your life to allow you to put that time aside.

For example:

If you say you want to prioritise your children. What does that actually mean to you? Does that mean doing bedtime every night? Or 90% of the time? Does it mean never working on the weekends? Does it mean never looking at your phone in their presence? Does it mean a fun outing once a week? Get very clear on what it means to you.

Then you can work out what’s getting in the way.

Is your job the problem?

• How many of your priorities are out of alignment due to your job?
• What about your job is getting in the way?

For example:

Is it the long commute that stops you getting home for dinner with the family? Is it the crushing workload that means you have to work weekends?

When you’ve done this exercise you can see clearly how your job will need to support your priorities in life.

Maybe you’ve realised now is the time you want to take a step back in your career.

Or you’d rather prioritise an office close to your home over a bigger salary.

Our priorities in life will change over time and so will your job and career aspirations.

It’s important to understand what matters most in this phase of your life and to find a company that can support that.

Not every company will be able to support you and that’s ok.

There’s a company for everyone, but not every company is for everyone

Make sure to find the company for you!