How often have you spent time on something interesting but not important? It can be easy to be distracted by interesting things and forget the key purpose of what you’re doing.
Be mindful of this situation. Being curious about everything, getting distracted and remaining distracted can all detail your future far more than anyone or anything else.
School grades? Your job? Maybe your income is more important than the job itself. Is it important to give your kids a great childhood? What does a great childhood mean? It’s probably slightly different for a lot of people. Only you can decide what is important in your life. And we will know by what you actually do and not what you tell us.
In the here and now, many things seem important. And some of it is. But think ahead 5 years and think about how important it will seem after 1,700+ days have passed.
Good events and bad moments will get lost in the mix. Some will be remembered but most will disappear from sight.
Try to look at things like that. By this, I mean perspective. It’s rarely as bad as you think.
What is the deciding factor for relative importance in your life? For most people it is their values. Deciding what is important is an ever-shifting game you play in your head.
Do you remember what was important when you were three days old? Perhaps it was food, warmth and comfort. But when you were eight, 16 and 21, what you prioritised may have been different. I am almost certain that it would have been.
What is valued by a 30 year old is unlikely to be the same as that valued by an 80 year old. Time, location, wealth, health, education and family will all have an impact on what you think is valuable. In addition, what you value can shift as your life shifts or with new information. It is inevitable.
A good way to discover what is truly important to you, is to check how you spend your time. If you spend your time at the pub with friends, family may not be as high on your list as you thought. However, working everyday to bring in the income, so your family can be fed and safe, may take precedence over spending time with them.
Deciding what is important can be tricky and have many layers.
This test will help you to understand what is important in your life. You can more easily see where you are headed. Who is famous to you? Why do you know them? Why do they matter to you?
If you can name most of the players in English rugby, then you have a rugby focus. Some people will know all the names of the Prime Minister’s cabinet. That will tell you something about them.
If you know all the names of the journalists at a certain newspaper, it may indicate where you get your news from.
Now, just because these people are famous in your eyes, does not mean that other people will know them or even should know them. Other people will follow a different group and not know a thing about those that you follow.
What is important here is that where you spend time and energy, is the direction you are moving. So if the people you follow are in country music, you will move toward that culture. If it is mafia bosses that you follow, you might find your life being absorbed by organised crime.
Be aware of all the influences on your life. Then assess whether that is truly an important direction to be moving in. And also why it is so important in the context of your 90 year life.
Who is famous to you?
