Today, I want you to think about your commitments–to yourself, your family, friends, community, and at work.  Do your commitments accurately reflect your priorities?

If you’re overcommitted, committed in ways that are not meaningful to you, or your commitments don’t align with your priorities, consider making some changes.

If you’re feeling motivated, make a list of all your commitments–family commitments, committees you serve on, any volunteer work, commitments to yourself, etc.  Include daily, weekly, monthly, and even once-a year-commitments.  (Ideally, list each commitment on an index card.)

Then, make a list of your priorities in life, ranking them in order of importance (again, use an index card).  For example, your priorities might look like this:

• Family
• My Health
• Work
• Community

And so on. . .  You may want to add more detail to your priorities–for example, under “My Health” you might add “Exercise,” “Daily Meditation,” and “Healthy Eating.”

Then, categorize your commitments according to your priorities.  This is where the index cards come in handy–lay out your Priority index cards, in order of importance, then sort your Commitment index cards accordingly.  For example, if one of your commitments is that you go for a daily walk, that would be categorized with “My Health.”  If you volunteer, that likely falls under “Community.”

This extra work allows you to see more clearly whether your commitments and priorities are aligned and balanced.  If you need to make changes, pick one or two commitments that will be easy to drop and earmark one larger commitment that might take some time to ease out of.

This Daily Shoring tip is great to do as a couple or family.  It’s helpful to give and get feedback and define your priorities together.  This also sets the stage for moral support when you need to say “no” to a request for your time!