Priorities
In the 1990s, a linebacker named Rob Morris played football for BYU. He was an awesome athlete and very fun to watch. He became known as Freight Train Morris. At one particular game, BYU passed out wooden train whistles. We were told to blow into the whistles every time he tackled another player. It was great! The toys sounded pretty authentic. Brian and I both had one, and we did play with them from time to time.
A few years after graduating from BYU, we were living in an apartment in Southern California. It was a typical evening at home, and I was getting my two little kids ready for bed. Landon was about 18 months old and in the bathtub. I was kneeling beside the tub, letting him play in the water.
All of a sudden, we heard the train whistle. The sound was crisp and clear as it filled our cramped apartment. I knew it was Brian in the next room, messing around with the toy whistle we got from BYU. Landon did not. His eyes widened. He immediately stood up, buck naked, and announced,
“There’s a train! I gotta go.”
His reaction to the train whistle was instantaneous and oh-so-cute! For my train-loving boy, his priorities were never in question. A bath was fine and good, but when a train appeared, it was game over. I remember having a hard time convincing him there wasn’t a real train in our house. There were no obstacles to Landon. It didn’t matter that he was in the middle of his bath, that he was 18 months old, or even that he was naked. There were no excuses, just a determined little boy. He heard a train, and he was going to get on it.
I shared this story with my daughter this week, and I have been thinking about it since.
What are your priorities?
Do you have any?
Is everything a priority?
There are so many good things to do in this life, one person can’t possibly do them all. You have to choose. You have to decide what matters most to you. When everything is a priority, nothing is. You have to CHOOSE.
This is actually great news! We get to pick what we love and what matters the most to us. If you are like me and struggle with constraint, try this:
List all of the things you love and want to do.
Write all the things in order of importance to you.
The last thing is to pick your top three (ok, maybe four!) and make them your priorities. No more than four! That’s it.
Now all the decisions you make get super easy. Ask yourself, is this in line with my priorities? If it’s not—let it go. It doesn’t matter, even if other people tell you it does. Having priorities gives us focus and helps us progress.
Now, I’m not encouraging a bunch of people to be naked. Seriously, put your clothes on. I am saying that you need to choose what matters the most to you. Then align your life with the priorities you picked. And let the rest of it go. Let. It. Go.
Priorities. If you don’t have some—get some.
For real.
Then, click below and try coaching out. You won’t be sorry.
