It’s amazing the levels is plays out on. And of course, its necessary to assign priorities within these 6 priorities. After I finish the Michael Hyatt Life Plan with my wife, I’ll hit this next!

Thanks

Thanks for this post!

Blessings 

I’m curious if you think it is easier for you being of the male gender to be able to prioritize and say no to things as opposed to me, being in the female gender. Everyone knows that women like to and are better at multi-tasking. I am sure that makes a difference. 

If Christ is at the center rather than at the end, our paths toward Jesus and transformation toward ever-increasing holiness can look very different depending upon where we begin on the circumference of this metaphorical circle. Rather than walking shoulder to shoulder in the same direction toward Jesus, we have the potential to take completely different, even 180 degree opposite routes and still be walking toward Jesus at the center. I suspect that this is why the men and women we are introduced to in the Bible are both rich and poor, building churches in cities or on the road, traditional or innovative, etc. Rather than see that members of the Body of Christ might be drawn to center…to Jesus…in different ways, we’ve taken to arguing and advocating for our path over those of our brothers and sisters in Christ. I am glad that many of the heroes of our faith were not led to follow a hierarchy like the one described in this post. The stories of many of the prophets, apostles, evangelists and sacrificial servants of God would have been much different if they had. Yet, I am open to the notion that God is using this message at this time for His glory in a way. It is my prayer, however, that people who read this will use it to prompt prayerful discernment about God’s will for their lives rather than a quick-fix how-to. 

I find many of your sharing to be warm, personal and engaging, while at the same time, contains nuggets of wisdom that can be easily adapted into my own circumstances.

Would you actually have considered compiling your short inspirational messages into a book?

What about if you are single, is it the same priorities?

“If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject.” Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand preached a philosophy of rational objectivism … that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self-interest. This is the first priority of many folks today … the pursuit of happiness which can only result from collecting … money and stuff … big houses … big cars … and lots of technological marvels.

OTHERS

“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” Albert Pike

I suggest that your first priority should be to give yourself away every day. Doing as much GOOD as possible not only makes you feel good, but returns more back over the long run.

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Two things in here jumped out.

One, I'm hesitant to swallow the opening sentence blindly. There is the school of thought that suggests something else, and I'm not sure where I stand. Perhaps it's an overapplication of God not allowing us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but I've been told by more than one person that if I'm not finishing what I have to do in the time I have to do it, I'm either doing more than I'm supposed to do, or I'm misusing my time.

On a personal level, that latter phrase always hits me in the gut and reminds me of my responsibility. I'm worried that if I applied your opening line, I'd actually use it as an excuse for laziness. The former has more to do with destiny, of course, and as such is difficult to measure.

Secondly, I want to thank you for a very simple and elegant explanation for why self comes second. During my formative years, I definitely bought into the "Jesus first, others second, yourself last" mentality. In fact, I'd say it was the cornerstone principle of my existence for 10 to 15 years. It's taken me quite a few years to unlearn that, and I'm still working on it. The damage that it's done is that I confuse selflessness with goodness, and I'm far less effective than my potential. I created codependence artificially, deciding that working on the needs of others was a great way to distract myself from working on my own overwhelming flaws.

Interestingly, it was on a plane flight, while reading the in-seat cartoon instructions, that I had the same epiphany that you used there as a metaphor.

I heard someone say that when we say yes to something, we are always saying "no" to something else. This has really helped me to think, "What am I saying yes to right now? Is there something else I'm saying no to that is really more important?"

# Self
# Family
# Work
# Everything Else

I'm working on changing some of my priorities to build my own career. The hard part isn't in the change, it's in maintaining the change against those who don't like change. Hmm, another topic :-)