A “What Matters Most” Wake-up Call

What matters most to you – in life and at work?  

No really, what matters most?  We get so accustomed to plowing through never-ending to-do lists and going through the motion of our days without pausing to really address that question.  Until, one day, the answer is staring you in the face and there is no denying it as much as if you had been caught with your own hand in the cookie jar.   That happened to me recently when my 8 year old son barricaded the entrance to my home office with a note saying, “You are not doing work, Mom”. 

A “What Matters Most” Wake-up Call

You can imagine all the “reasons” and “explanations” I gave him for why I work, but in the end, what mattered most was that my son was declaring his need for some uninterrupted “mom time”. 

It is in those moments when life’s choices become as clear as if we had been hit over the head by them.  But not all our choices throughout the day have that utter clarity because we tend to approach everything as urgent instead of focusing on “what matters most”.

How do you decide what gets your attention?  What behaviors do you demonstrate consistently that either keep you focused on “what matters most” or off-track on something else?  Many of us have an “open door policy” and allow distractions and interruptions that become barricades for doing what matters most.

In my ”WAAMM™: 5 Steps to Managing Work and Life Priorities” program, I talk about the 4 levels of prioritization and tips for managing priorities.  I’d love to hear from you.  What do you do to stay on track and focused on what matters most?  Please share your tips and ideas and I’ll include them in future posts!

WAAMM™ stands for What Actions and Attitudes Matter Most and is a principle for setting priorities, staying on track and choosing powerfully.

Spring Forward

As a Midwesterner, when the calendar says “First day of Spring”, I admit to getting a little giddy.  It helps when you see the daffodils peeking their green stems up out of the ground, when you hear the birds chirping in the morning and when everything just smells like “spring”.  For someone who has not lived through a cold and snowy winter, these things may seem poetically lame (as was recently told to me by my friend who has lived her entire life in Southern California), but it’s truly a season for new and renewed life.  It’s a time to get out of the dark and welcome fresh ideas and new opportunities. 

 What matters most to you as you transition into this new season?  Where you can move into something new or how can you welcome a new opportunity?  If you’re unsure, then let the spring surroundings guide you.  Physically take yourself outside and use all your senses to take in the newness of your surroundings.  Ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. What is going well for me right now?
2. Where in my work or personal life do I want to create something new or fresh?  And, what would it look like if I achieved the results I most want?
3. What would be the costs of staying status quo and what would be the benefits if I achieved the results I most want?

Next, decide what steps you can easily take to moving forward.  Remember, this is a time to “Spring Forward” so take the opportunity to launch into What Matters Most for you.

Happy Spring!

Trust Your Gut or Ask the Expert?

Over the past week I’ve had two occasions when I questioned my gut instinct.  These occasions were not anything life altering; in fact, one was choosing between two shades of blue paint for my kitchen.  In both situations, I quickly found myself reaching out to others I trusted instead of trusting my own intuition.  It frustrates me when I feel indecisive and ask others for input and guidance (I like to blame that on the fact that I’m a Pisces and indecision is a classic trait); it makes me question my self-sufficiency. 

As I started to pass judgment on myself for not trusting my own instincts, I quickly turned it around.  There are many occasions when we appropriately reach out to others who 1) may be subject matter experts, 2) we value their opinions, or 3) who know us well.  It is important to remember that when we ask others for help – whether it’s for a work project, a home chore or in deciding between paint colors – it is actually a sign of strength and not a personal weakness.  Yes, there are times when listening to and acting in congruence with your intuition is absolutely the right thing to do, but, as the Beatles so simply sang, “I get by with a little from my friends”. 

In the business world we find professionals using coaches, participating in mastermind groups and mentoring.  I am a big proponent of these sources of advice and support (and have actively participated in all 3) but ultimately, we are accountable to ourselves and the final call rests with us.  Whether or not we invite others to help us out, it’s that little voice that lies in all of us that will never let us down.

Cheers to that little voice that will guide me when my Pisces traits take over and cheers to my new blue kitchen that I love!

“Refusing to ask for help when you need it is refusing someone the chance to be helpful.”  Ric Ocasek

“Trust your hunches. They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”  Dr. Joyce Brothers

Welcome to The WAAMM™ Blog

Welcome to my new blog!

Remember the “Parable of the Big Rocks”? It’s a story about a time management expert who illustrates to a group of overachievers how you can fill a glass mason jar first with big rocks, and then with gravel, sand and water until it can’t hold anymore. And one eager beaver in the class claims that the point of the illustration is to show us that no matter how much you put into your schedule, if you try really hard you can always fit more things into it. And the expert then strongly objects to that opinion and fervently described that the point of the illustration is that if you don’t put in the “big rocks” first, you will never get them in at all. So the point being that you need to know what those big rocks are in your life and make conscious decisions to make them a priority.

I love that parable and analogy and use it often in my speaking. As such, the picture of the big rocks seems fitting as I launch my WAAMM™ blog because WAAMM™ is the principle I teach and it stands for “What Actions and Attitudes Matter Most”.

We all have WAAMM™ moments during the day – those times and situations that remind us of what is truly important. And by staying focused on our priorities, we are able to live more productive, engaged, and meaningful lives.

What keeps you from managing priorities and how might the WAAMM™ principle be a useful tool for you – at work or at home? I look forward to hearing your ideas and thoughts.

Warmly,
Marcie
The WAAMM™ Woman