Every week, life gets loud. Urgent requests fly in. Fires need to be put out. Opportunities knock.
And in that moment, what gets dropped reveals everything.
The pattern: People protect what they genuinely believe in. Everything else gets sacrificed.
Let me say that again: people protect what they genuinely believe in.
If your "most important" work always gets pushed aside for other people's emergencies, or your own distractions, then it's not actually your priority yet—it's just an aspiration.
Here's what happens: You tell yourself that the project matters, block time for it, and feel good about the plan.
Then Tuesday hits. Your boss needs something "urgent." A client calls with a crisis. Your kid gets sick. Or even worse, instead of working on what matters most, you pick up your phone and start doom scrolling…
What gets moved? The thing that supposedly matters most.
The truth: You don't need to track your number one thing. Just track what survives when everything goes sideways.
That's your real priority system in action.
The shift: Stop planning for a perfect week and start planning for a real one. We all have grand ideas about what we'll start on Monday. Letting go of these unrealistic expectations can bring a sense of relief and freedom.
Your action step: Track this week. When things got chaotic, what did you protect? What did you drop? Did you take action? Being in tune with your decisions and actions is key to understanding your true priorities.
That's your honest priority list. Not the one you write down—the one you live by.
Next week: Plan around what you actually protect, not what you think you should.
Love,
Jeff