Make a list of what’s important in your life. Mine would probably contain family, boyfriend, friends, travel, career, sleep, health and food. Now separately, draw a circle and start pie charting these priorities. How big would your career slice be? How big would your family slice be? How about your boyfriend or girlfriend? How about your friends, the environment, money, sports or fashion?
Prioritizing your life is a super difficult task. When you look at your typical 24 hours a day, how much of your top priorities are in it?
These past 3 weeks, I was given the opportunity to go on a business trip back home to Hong Kong. I was so fortunate to be able to spend my weekends with my parents, my sisters and their families. This trip was quite meaningful to me, as I got to spend more time chatting with them about life, interests, passions and priorities. I usually go back for Christmas every year, but it’s so hectic we don’t actually get much quality time. I’ve always had family as a huge slice of pie in my chart, but it’s easy to de-prioritize when you live far away and go on about your robotic day of wake up, go to work, eat your meals, go to sleep. As you get older, you realize that these priorities are what makes you happy. Not to say that we should be upset by our daily routines, but to use this pie chart and reflect on our lives. Each day goes by so quickly and its a matter of time when your priorities change again.
There are different seasons throughout our lives, and our priorities change with them. When you’re younger, you may be more career driven, and when you have kids, they may take up 90% of your life. We can’t do everything all at once, and you can’t always reach your goals overnight. If we look at life in pie charts and change our goals throughout the seasons, we can make it more meaningful and fulfilling to the priorities that you want to give your time to. We all want a balanced lifestyle and we can try a little harder in giving time to what matters to us the most.
