The Countdown – Day 8: Does Your Schedule Reflect Your Values?

One of the easiest ways you can identify whether you’re living by your values and in accordance with your true priorities is by looking at your schedule: Are you spending the most time on the things that matter most to you?

Do you say to yourself “family first” but rarely spend time with them? If so, then you know that your schedule (or your priorities) are in need of a few adjustments.

But before I explore this topic any further, I should make one point clear: This post isn’t about judging yourself.

I don’t want you reading this post and thinking to yourself that you’re a hypocrite, a bad husband, a terrible father, a lousy human being, or putting any other negative label on yourself.

If you do that, then you’re an idiot. 😛

I want you to simply notice if your schedule is a good reflection of your values, and if it isn’t, to look for ways you can make positive changes so that your life becomes an expression of your inner values.

There are 3 primary reasons for why your schedule may not reflect your values:

1- You don’t really value what you say you do: Your schedule is often an honest reflection of what you truly value. If things are left out of your schedule and you aren’t giving them much thought or attention, then that could be by (subconscious) design.

You simply don’t care about them.

Again, don’t judge yourself, especially by other people’s standards. Just because the people around you make a big deal about a particular cause or value doesn’t mean that you have to follow in their footsteps.

Ask yourself: “Why does this matter to me?” before you can create some room for it in your schedule.

2- You’re in Crisis Mode: When there’s something in your life that’s out of control or causing you to worry, then your schedule won’t be in the best shape.

Not because you don’t care about the other things that aren’t in your schedule, but because you’re struggling to deal with a crisis in your life, or lack the skills to create a healthy balance in your schedule.

When a stressful project makes an appearance in your life it’s very common for gym visits and family gatherings to go out the window.

Crises do need extra attention to resolve, but it’s also important to invest in the skills that help you handle crises better, or prevent them from happening in the first place.

Identify the troublesome areas in your life, and think of ways you can bring them under control so that they don’t push the important things out of your schedule.

3- You don’t know what it looks like in the wild: So, you want to spend time with your children? But what will you be doing? How will you spend your time with them?

If you don’t know what your values look like in real life, it’s only natural for you to spend your time doing the things that you’re familiar with.

You can never experience a “time vacuum”. If you don’t know what to do with your time, you will fill it with something, no matter how mundane or useless it is.

This reason can go unnoticed as you claim that you “don’t have the time” for romantic evenings, when the real reason is that you don’t know what a romantic evening looks like!

For all your values and priorities, ask yourself: “What will this look like in real life?”

Then look for ways you can create space for it in your schedule.

Christmas is a time where you might begin to reflect on your priorities and wonder why you’re not spending as much time with family as you would like.

It may even lead you to explore your spiritual values and the amount of attention you’re giving them.

Use this opportunity to reflect on how you can make changes to your schedule to better reflect your values.

And I wish you a merry Christmas. 🙂