What’s Important Now

Clarity and diligence to wisely invest our time, energy, and focus in the right thing (or person) at any given moment is the heart of What’s Important Now (W.I.N.). We must be present if we want to be able to do this consistently at a high level. We’ve all caught ourselves replaying an event from the past or worrying about a hypothetical conversation we may have in the future. I can’t say with any confidence that we can eliminate our mind’s tendency to wander from the present, but the good news is that awareness of the gap between where we are and where we want to be is always the first step to improving it. We can use the question, “What’s Important Now?” to align our time, energy, and focus on the highest value priorities within our influence at the present moment.  

Make it Micro

Feeling overwhelmed or complacent indicates that we may not have clarity on “what’s important now.” Knowing our W.I.N. empowers us to use our resources decisively for our highest value priority. Breaking it down into small actionable pieces allows us to build tiny wins that energize and encourage us. Imagine walking into your living room after a big Super Bowl party. Our W.I.N. is to clean up the room, but it’s an overwhelming mess. If we use a micro W.I.N. lens, we determine that we need to grab a trash bag and throw away any garbage. The scene will look significantly better, motivating us to tackle our next micro W.I.N. of removing and storing the party decorations. With all the extra clutter gone, it begins to look like our living room again so we can mop tonight or tackle it tomorrow depending on our energy. Bringing a micro W.I.N. into focus prevents us from procrastinating or feeling paralyzed when we feel overwhelmed. 

Highlight Time-Sensitive Priorities

This morning, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed because I’ve added several large projects to my usual workload. Unfortunately, today’s plan was an inevitable failure before it began. The work I intended to accomplish was not feasible within the constraints of my day. Feeling defeated before breakfast was my cue to pause and ask, “What’s Important Now?” Each task on today’s list must be done, but nothing bad happens if I don’t purchase stamps today. Why are stamps competing for attention against important deadlines on today’s plan? I discovered that many of the items on today’s plan were little tasks I didn’t want to forget yesterday. Instead of adding them to my running task list, I added them to my “tomorrow” to-do list because it was easier than finding my running task list. 

My current system was broken, or at least missing something. I used 30 seconds to add a four-cent sticky note flag to my running task list so it was easy to flip to. With the non-urgent tasks cleared from my daily plan I was able to timeblock the remaining items in today’s plan for a realistic workload. I’m an experienced planner, but whenever we take on something new, it’s important to adjust and find our rhythm again. The beginner and the master both lose their center often, but mastery is regaining it quickly. Pausing to ask “What’s Important Now?” helps us get back on track quickly.  

Be Here Now 

Have you ever been at work unable to focus thinking about what’s going on at home or been at home unable to connect because you’re thinking about work left undone? That’s how I used to live, feeling perpetual guilt about my inability to be fully present at work or home. My splintered attention was diminishing the returns of my efforts. I finally decided to establish, communicate, and enforce clear priorities and boundaries. I set parameters for when I was available for work. Outside of those hours, my phone and computer went away. I was fully present with my family and friends for all the mundane and meaningful moments which deepened the connection and made it easier to focus at work.  

There’s a temptation to think the world will fall apart if we’re not there to oversee or micromanage a situation, but the world keeps spinning without our guidance. Aligning with our values and priorities prevents the impact of our presence from being diluted. Be unapologetically present now. 

Be Effective with People and Efficient with Things 

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey says that we can be efficient with things, but must be effective with people. That was news to me, but the evidence was obvious. I love efficiency. I also love people, but people are great at wrecking our efficiency. I would sail smoothly through my morning schedule, then things would slowly fall apart after my first meeting. Covey taught me that we should rarely sacrifice effectiveness with people to preserve efficiency in things. We should respect each other’s time, but it’s difficult to predict how long it’ll take to be effective when people are involved. We are basically houseplants walking around with a lot of complicated emotions. Most of our problems can be fixed with water and sunshine, but some days we need a little love and grace too. We must discern when to sacrifice our efficiency to effectively encourage, love, or guide someone within the constraints of our healthy boundaries. We can confidently answer W.I.N. effectively when we realize the human being in front of us is likely more important than our to-do list. 

Build a Winning Day   

I used to feel like a failure when I didn’t accomplish everything on my list because of unforeseen circumstances. Now I evaluate my day a little differently. It’s a guilt-free decisions to roll a less important task to address a higher priority when our values and priorities are clear. Did we behave in alignment with W.I.N. today even if that means we didn’t accomplish what we originally intended to do? If yes, it’s a winning day. We must invest our finite resources wisely because if everything is important, then nothing is. When we know our priorities and values, W.I.N. helps us build incredible days moment by moment. 

How can you use W.I.N. to build a better life today? 

Faith Encouragement: 

• Luke 10:41-42 -  “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
• Lao Tzu - “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
• Stephen Covey - “Be efficient with things, but be effective with people.”