Goals and Priorities
May 28, 2019
Goals and Priorities
By Thomas Matthew Pierson
Goals can be foggy, vague and ill defined. I have struggled in the past with clearly defining my goals and for that I have fail more often than I would like to admit. I failed to determine what my main priorities were in the morning. I had researched, listened and read various habits highly productive people used during their mornings. In doing so I tried establishing a morning habit that would set me up on the right path for a productive day. It included journaling, affirmations and a form of meditation. It was great at the beginning it became a bouncing off point to propel me to a highly productive day. I would do this before I started my day in the art studio. I was very satisfied with the initial outcome.
As time progress though, the morning habit began to be the goal and not painting in the studio. I found myself trying to maximize my journaling time, to really understand my thoughts better. I extended my meditation because I was clear headed, relaxed, and less stressed. It began to overrun my goal, which was to paint. I had to go back to the drawing board, I had to reset the system.
I guess part of the problem was I did not define my goal as clear as I’d like. I needed and exact measure, so I decided that I wanted to paint three hours a day before 8 AM. The second part was to act upon this goal. By now I had already establish getting up around 4 AM every morning to paint. Do not get me wrong, it freaking sucks. If It were up to me, I would start at 8-9 AM, but I just can’t at this time in my life. Once I knew my goal with a definite measure, I started acting on this goal. Unfortunately, I realized that I could no longer do my morning journaling habit and my meditation. It was important to me but not urgent. Painting will always be important and urgent, so I had to set the precedent.
I guess I am writing about this because for those of you who are struggling accomplishing your goals, it takes a strong understanding of yourself to truly know the next course of action. The answer is never as apparent as we think it to be and often it takes sacrificing something that you feel is valuable so that you can accomplish something of even greater value.
