When a businessman is looking at all the different things that need his attention and he then creates 'priorities', what distinguishes something of high priority and something of low priority on a practical level? The allocation of 'resources'. Higher priority initiatives get more 'resources' than lower priority ones.

But what does the word 'resources' mean? Well, it can mean a lot of things, like equipment, office space, marketing budget, staffing, etc. but they all boil down to two things: time and money. The equipment, office space, and marketing budget are all just different forms of spent or allocated to be spent money. The staffing is simply man hours. So, if you see a crazy awesome billboard for a pizza shop and then drive there to see that both the outside and inside are decked out like DisneyLand and you order a pizza and it tastes worse than a Little Ceasars cheese pizza with no spice pack, then don't let that owner tell you that his priority is 'high quality'. He can say it all he wants, but he's obviously put most of his time and money into the marketing and promotional aspect of his business. I'm not saying that is right or wrong – but those ARE the priorities of the business...not what it says on a plaque on the wall or what the owner tells you when you ask him.

The same thing goes with your life. If you want to know what matters to you most – look at your calendar and your bank statement. What are you spending your time and money, your 'resources' on? If it's not what you want it to be, then put some new things on your calendar and make some new purchases/investments/donations. If it is, then good for you. If it's not, though, and you don't plan on changing anything, then consider telling people your real priorities (the ones that you spend your resources on) instead of kidding yourself and them by saying what you think they want to hear. You'll just end up sounding like the guy with the DisneyLand pizza shop.

• < Prev
• Next >