Life priorities and goals - what they are, how to review them, what tasks there are and how to learn to set them: correct prioritization tasks: prioritization in life and work

April 21, 2019
Psychology of Personality
Marusya the Cat

Throughout life, every person faces many problems, not only personal, but also social. A lot of questions arise: which ones should be addressed first, which ones should be put off for a long time, and which ones should simply be ignored. And how you need to build your life so that it is comfortable for yourself and others. There is only one answer that will help put everything in its place. You need to set your priorities correctly in life and try not to deviate from them.

Meaning of the concept

Human life has many facets; it is complex, unpredictable and individual. Each person has his own character, so people treat the same events in life differently. Views on current events and their perception distinguishes one person from another. Everyone associates the word priority with different things. A student sees a long-awaited diploma in front of him, an athlete sees victory in a competition, a young specialist sees career growth. The concept of what life priorities are can be characterized by the following phrase: “Priorities are activities that, after a certain time, can justify the effort and time spent on them.”

How do life priorities change?

It is impossible not to notice that priorities change repeatedly. What can influence them? First of all, age, because we have different priorities:

children - get a dream toy, spend time with mom, make peace with a classmate,
teenagers - find love, be a popular person in the company, wear fashionable designer clothes, get an education, become independent,
adults - starting a family, finding a good job, having a child,
mature people - maintaining good health, happiness for children and grandchildren.

There's no denying that life priorities can be highly dependent on gender. For women, for example, it is important to find a life partner, have a child, create a warm and safe home, be a good wife and caring mother. It is important for a man to provide life for his family, to have a job that will allow him to develop and support his loved ones, it is important to be a good husband and father, to live up to his role, although he may often lack self-confidence.

Priorities also change as a result of events that happen in our lives. When we finish our studies and start working, it is no longer grades that are important to us, but results at work; we want to establish ourselves in our position and deserve the praise of our superiors. When we fall in love, not only our happiness is important to us, but also the well-being of the other person. When a child comes into the world, we reevaluate our entire lives and fix everything for this little defenseless creature who has captured our hearts from the first day of her life.

Very often our priorities change when we become seriously ill and begin to appreciate life and what we have. This is a difficult but valuable lesson that can lead us to live with completely different values.

Classification of priorities

Priorities are always aimed at obtaining the desired result and achieving the set goals. These actions will require a certain amount of time. According to this principle, it is customary to classify life priorities:

Long-term. They are usually global and can be carried out throughout life (raise children, wait for grandchildren, become famous, etc.).
Medium term. They are usually planned until a certain age (20, 30, 40... years).
Short-term or simply urgent. These are priorities that become most relevant in the near future (by the end of the week, month, quarter, etc.)

Rate your work by true priority using the Ivy Lee Method

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we end up with a huge list of urgent and important tasks that we need to complete. In this case, we need to find a way to dig deeper and find their true meaning.

One of the best methods was developed over 100 years ago by productivity consultant Ivy Lee. The so-called Ivy Lee Method is a ridiculously simple way to set priorities in your daily life.

Here's how it works:

At the end of each day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow . Each mini-goal is about 30-45 minutes maximum. Don't write down more than six pieces.
Prioritize these six points in order of their true importance.
When the next day comes, focus only on the first task. Work until you finish the first task, and then move on to the next one.
Approach the rest of your list in the same way. At the end of the day, move all unfinished tasks to a new list for the next day.

Repeat this process until the emergency is over, then try to return to the first method.

Limiting yourself to six tasks (or less) each day creates a framework that forces you to prioritize and stay focused by completing one task on your list.

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Priority model

In the modern world, it is customary to distinguish between eight components of a comprehensive priority model.

Spirituality. The inner world of a person, his spiritual development, moral side.
Family. Relationships with loved ones, mutual understanding, the desire to make them happy.
Health. Attitude to your health, rest, ability to take care of yourself, playing sports.
Material aspect. Attitude to the material side of life, ambitions based on finances;
Career. Achieving professional and labor success, career growth, promotion.
Rest. The desire to provide yourself and your loved ones with proper rest, travel, and hobbies.
Self-development. The desire for new knowledge, constant self-improvement.
Society. Relationships with other people, communication skills, social recognition.

Setting priorities in life

What could be our priority in life? The primary value in relation to which everything else is relative?

health comes first . This is the main value thanks to which we can enjoy life, spend time with family and friends, work, and develop.

An important priority for many of us is family . These are the people closest to us: parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, but also the family that we create ourselves: our spouses, children, and later grandchildren. We wish them health, happiness, so that we can enjoy their company for as long as possible.

Next up is work . For some, this is only a means to earn a living; for others, it is an opportunity to improve themselves and achieve social prestige (for example, through a promotion).

The next priority is self-development and self-development. This is an important aspect of life and it would be good if it was a high priority for many of us. Self-development gives you the opportunity to get to know yourself better and increases your confidence.

An important priority is the fulfillment of dreams , that is, the desire to achieve your goals, whether we are talking about owning your own home or writing a book.

And finally, the next three priorities are much less often chosen as primary ones, but they are a value in the lives of many of us. This:

travel , that is, the desire to explore the world and expand knowledge;
wealth , that is, the accumulation of some assets and the joy of the fact that you can buy a lot for money;
fame , that is, the opportunity to be a famous, recognizable and loved person.

Factors of influence

Values and priorities in life depend on many factors. Fundamental in this matter are time, events and circumstances that influenced a person’s worldview.

Time always determines priorities. Starting from a conscious age, the child tries to learn to be independent. Then he learns to read and write, and play certain games. By getting to know the world, the baby gives a start to setting his priorities in life. In the future, young people set themselves the goal of learning and mastering a profession. At this age, they rarely think about their health, about their future family, etc. Mature people devote more time to health, relaxation, and traditions. It follows from this that priorities in life change over time, and each generation is characterized by their individual arrangement.

An important factor is the events that happen to a person throughout his life. This is accumulated experience, a look from a different angle, a reassessment of values. These events can be positive (for example, meeting a loved one, a like-minded person). Everything that seemed important until now fades into the background, and new desires appear. Sometimes the experience is sad, and then the disappointed person radically changes his plans and views.

Circumstances also influence changes in worldview. A person may be forced to change his life priorities. An example would be the work of a farmer, which is completely dependent on weather conditions. The man had a goal to harvest the harvest and sell it safely, but constant rains or drought prevented his dream from coming true. Fearing similar weather anomalies, the farmer will no longer take risks and next year will prefer a direction in the farm that does not depend on the weather.

Three spheres of values

Priorities are individual and depend mainly on what a particular person was instilled in childhood in the family and school. Education of morality and other virtues is the key to a harmonious personality with the correct priorities of life values.

Their full list is huge. But there are three most significant parts of the values of a healthy personality:

Business, work, business.
Personal life and relationships.
Own development.

In addition, they share material and spiritual values.

Men's priorities

Priorities in life are distributed not only by age, but also by gender. A man is a protector, a successor of the family and a reliable support for his family. He always dreams of self-realization, because only in this status does he feel confident. That is why the main priority for representatives of the stronger sex is financial independence. It will allow you to provide for your family and make your loved ones happy. The most popular goals in men's lives are:

finance;
work and career;
health;
rest.

What does it mean

Priority is the most important matter at the moment, for the solution of which all time and energy are concentrated.

Often there is a kind of dispersion between a mass of small but urgent tasks that consume energy but do not produce practical results. Following a certain hierarchy will help distribute them according to urgency.

There are many directions, the main ones are:

health;
family;
career;
financial well-being;
basic needs for food and clothing;
communication;
self-realization;
creation;
rest.

Choosing and prioritizing in life will help determine which option requires the closest attention today.

Women's priorities

Women's priorities in life are radically different from men's. Representatives of the fair sex pay more attention to family matters, relationships with their husbands, and raising children. They try to create family coziness, provide comfortable conditions for household members, take care of the health of their close relatives, honor traditions, etc. Work and career become secondary for them, although there are exceptions. Sometimes women perfectly combine family and work, without giving preference to either of these aspects. But the most popular for ladies are such priority areas as:

family;
health;
spirituality;
rest.

What are priorities in life and how to determine them

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Good day everyone. I am with you, Yuri Okunev.

Have you already decided on your life priorities? Have you decided what to put in first place and what to put in tenth place? No? Then I hasten to warn you - you risk being left in old age with the terrifying feeling that you didn’t live your life the way you dreamed.

I really hope that this won’t happen to you, but I still strongly recommend that you figure out what your priorities are in life and what they are for you. This will help you understand yourself, your aspirations and direct your life in the right direction. Until it's not too late.

Life priorities - what are they?

A person’s life is like a puzzle that is made up of thousands of tiny pieces - our actions and decisions, natural events and unexpected accidents. Each piece relates to one or another area of life:

To the family.
Work.
To friends.
Relaxation and entertainment.
Study and self-improvement.
Health, etc.

And depending on what pieces we connect with each other and what their relationship is in the puzzle, the path of life takes on certain features.

Priority is your favorite color in the picture of life, an area of activity or a principle that captures the maximum of your time and attention. What you do first, for which you are willing to put everything else aside for a while.

The destinies of people with different priorities develop into completely different pictures. Some are colorful and positive. It’s a pleasure to look at these in old age. Others have unsightly gray ones, instilling melancholy and a feeling of deep disappointment.

This is why the problem of determining your priorities is so great and pressing. After all, it is almost impossible to do everything at once. So what should you put at the forefront so that you don’t regret the “aimless years lived”? What values should you focus on? Is there a universal formula for creating a known happy picture?

Maslow's pyramid

When discussing the issue of life priorities, it is worth recalling the famous table of human needs compiled in 1943 by the American psychologist Abraham Maslow. If you make a list of natural human needs, it will look like this:

Physiology (food, water, warmth, need for reproduction, etc.)
Safety (protection from anything that poses a threat to health or life).
Love.
Respect (recognition by others of your value, importance).
Cognition and creativity (as an indispensable component of self-development).
Aesthetics (a person needs beauty and harmony).
Self-realization.

This sequence corresponds to human nature, and therefore is completely natural and correct. No matter how much you strive for beauty, basic satisfaction of hunger and thirst will be your top priorities. After all, you won’t be able to talk about lofty matters, being on the verge of starvation, if only for purely physiological reasons.

It turns out that, based on natural needs, priorities may look like this:

Work as a means of earning income and a way to get food, warmth and security.
Family, loved ones, friends and all those whom you love/who love you.
The need for recognition of oneself by society.
Study, creativity, self-development.

However, even Maslow himself emphasized that different people can move positions in this hierarchy as they see fit. Everyone will also interpret the components of the list in their own way. So, for some, to satisfy the need for food is to have a snack with a slice of lean bread and a glass of milk. And for some - to dine in a luxurious restaurant with culinary delights with unpronounceable foreign names.

In addition, there are other models for determining life priorities. Some people put duty first, some put God first, some put the pleasures of the senses.

And all because each person is a unique worldview system, a unique set of values, convictions, principles, beliefs, knowledge, skills and expectations from life. Moreover, our aspirations are influenced by age, current social and natural environment, life events, other people, current difficulties, etc.

How different life priorities can be can be assessed by looking at my article: “What’s in your head. We consider options for worldviews using clear examples."

As a result, it is simply impossible to talk about any single method that would be equally good for every single inhabitant of the planet. So how do you set your priorities so that your quality of life is at the level you need?

Time to make a choice!

If you have realized your dissatisfaction with life, then it’s time to change something. In a radical way, but at the same time thoughtfully weighing all the pros and cons. After all, you don’t want to be left with nothing, do you?

Step 1 . Frank conversation with paper

To do this, take several sheets of paper and answer the following questions in writing:

What do you consider the most important thing in life? Identify no more than two or three positions, highlighting one as the dominant.
What do you actually spend the most time on? Make a list of activities that dominate your daily routine.
What do you want to achieve from life? Imagine yourself in 10, 20 years. What type of person are you? Where do you live? How do you earn money? How do you relax? Who do you communicate with? Do you have a family, and what is it like? The image should be truly close to you.
What does that require? Take into account physiological abilities, character traits, knowledge and skills, the presence of certain acquaintances, documents and money, place of residence, etc.
What's stopping you from getting what you want? And now point by point - everything that is missing to meet the dream.
What is your lasting value? Something you can’t live without, something you can’t give up. For example, “I won’t quit my job,” “I won’t go far from my parents,” “I will always take care of the children.”
What are you willing to sacrifice? And here - on the contrary, what is less important.

To make the information clear, use lists, graphs, tables, diagrams. This will make it easier to study the data.

Step 2. Analyze it!

For example, your priority is to realize yourself in your profession. You dream of becoming an illustrator. To do this, you need to create and improve your technique, communicate with other artists, participate in competitions, exhibit works for public criticism, etc.

In fact, you got married early, gave birth to a baby, and after returning from maternity leave, you work part-time as an administrator at a nearby hair salon. You sublimate your thirst for creativity into creating “homemade” comics for your child and congratulatory posters for your colleagues. Everyone really likes your drawings, but you understand that you passionately want more. So, it’s time to urgently improve your life!

Already calling your boss to tell him you're leaving? Very stupid! You wanted to change your life for the better, not destroy it. And for this you need to act competently and consistently.

Step 3. Action plan.

Having understood your true desires, set goals - long-term (5 years, 2 years, a year) and short-term (month, week, day). First take the problem in a global sense. Then break each task down into several subtasks, and then break them down into even smaller goals that you can start achieving tomorrow. For example, to be an illustrator you need:

Find a suitable job (full-time or freelance).
Create resume.
Send your resume to companies/potential clients.
Create a vibrant portfolio.
Select ready-made drawings.
Draw new ones.
Buy photoshop or paper and paints/pencils.

Step 4. Take action!

Start by solving the simplest pressing problems, constantly checking the main course. Change the reality around you gradually, but with confidence.

Remember that in the future you will be able to vary the list of tasks, goals, and even change priorities altogether. This is absolutely normal.

Step 5: Master the art of juggling

Few people are willing to give up everything for the sake of one single dream. Behind priority No. 1 there are also items No. 2, 3, 4, etc. And they are important to you too. For example, a loving mother and wife will not be able to leave her family and devote herself to drawing.

Therefore, you will have to master the skill of juggling your own life priorities. You will constantly need to replace the crystal balls “child”, “husband”, “creativity”, “health” with each other, trying to ensure that none of them falls and breaks.

As you can see, setting priorities, drawing up an effective life strategy and competently following it are not easy tasks. Not everyone manages to solve them correctly. The time management course I developed is your opportunity to determine your true desires, put everything in its place and take the first steps towards happiness, harmony and self-affirmation.

And if you still have questions, I invite you to an individual consultation. Details here.

With this, let me take my leave. Yuri Okunev was with you. There is a lot of interesting and useful things ahead. Subscribe so you don't miss anything. See you again!

Limited list

The main priorities in life should not be confused with a wish list. To make a choice, you need to highlight several of the most important areas in life. Just imagine that the list consists of ten items and try not to exceed it. It is necessary to formulate goals that will provide the desired state. For example, you shouldn’t plan to have high incomes and at the same time not want to work, not want to give up bad habits and dream of good health. You have to be prepared for the fact that something will have to be sacrificed.

Separate the urgent from the important using the Eisenhower Matrix.

It's easy to say that you have to learn to prioritize your work for maximum results, but how do you actually do it?

In some cases, it all comes down to experience. But when you're not sure, the Eisenhower Matrix is the perfect tool to use.

Developed by former US President Dwight Eisenhower, the matrix is a simple four-quadrant diagram whose answers help you separate the "urgent" tasks from the "important" ones.

In general terms, urgent things are things that you feel you need to respond to immediately, such as emails, phone calls, text messages, or news. While important tasks are those that contribute to your long-term personal mission, values and goals.

When considering how best to prioritize tasks, ask which quadrant they fit best into. Then follow the appropriate steps:

Urgent and important : complete them as soon as possible.
Important, but not urgent : Decide when you will do it and plan for it.
Urgent but not important : Delegate this work to someone else.
Neither urgent nor important : remove them from your list and forget about them.

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Your own comfort

Very often those aspects that do not bring satisfaction to a person become priorities. He is forced to do what he does not want, to communicate with those who are unpleasant to him. It is in this case that the word “must” comes first, completely overshadowing feelings and desires. Psychologists recommend wisely distributing personal qualities and virtues. Character qualities allow a person to succeed in his career and achieve stunning success in the industrial sphere. But he still has a family, personal attachments, hobbies, etc. Many people give preference to material aspects and almost completely ignore those moments that are close to his heart. You need to listen to your soul and be sure to include feelings and sensations in your priorities. Inner harmony and spiritual comfort will become the starting point, and putting things in order will become much easier.

Exercises

I suggest you get acquainted with three exercises that help in setting priorities. One exercise each for three components: concentration, time planning, prioritization.

To develop attention

A few simple exercises to improve concentration:

Sit on a chair, raise your head, keep your neck straight and your shoulders back and down. Raise your right hand, pointing your fingers to the right. Turn your head (just your neck, not your torso) and simultaneously concentrate on your fingers. Hold your hand and gaze for a minute. Repeat the same with your left hand.
Take a comfortable position, close your eyes, imagine a jug and a ball. Imagine how the ball enters the jug. Repeat several times. Monitor the actions carefully. The result of the exercise is increased concentration and unloading of thoughts.
Take a sheet of paper and a pen. Start drawing a straight line. Do it smoothly, think only about the line. If you notice that you were distracted, then draw a branch upward and return to the straight line again. This exercise allows you not only to train your attention, but also to track the dynamics of your training.

Time planning

Use the Eisenhower matrix (one of the time management methods). Distribute all tasks into 4 groups:

urgent and important;
urgent but unimportant;
important but not urgent;
not urgent and unimportant.

Urgent and important things need to be done right away. Important and non-urgent matters can be postponed for some time, but you should not abuse this (as a result, many urgent and important matters will accumulate). Urgent and unimportant matters usually mean someone's random errands. Try to delegate them to another person or refuse. Time wasters are usually hidden under non-urgent and unimportant tasks (smoking, communicating on social networks, watching TV, etc.). You can safely get rid of them.

To prioritize

Practice prioritizing using the “A, B, C, D” method. A is the main priority. G – lowest priority. Write down all your current tasks and put a letter next to each one. Additionally, add one more letter:

s – urgent;
n – non-urgent.

There may be several urgent matters. Then they can be ranked like this: Ac1, Ac2, Ac3, etc. And to make it easier to understand the significance of the cases, study the characteristics of the letters:

A – the most important things. Your future depends on them. An example of an important and urgent matter: go to the doctor for acute pain, submit a work report. An example of an important and non-urgent task: learning a foreign language to advance at work.
B – less important things that can be abandoned in an emergency. Failure to do these things will have unpleasant consequences, but in general it is not critical for the future. Group B tasks cannot be started until all tasks from group A have been completed.
B – unimportant tasks, failure to do which will result in nothing. Example: read the news or a book at your leisure. We begin the tasks of group B only after completing the tasks from groups A and B.
D – unnecessary things and habits that you have long wanted to get rid of.

The main rule for any field: do what you want and can do, follow your purpose. Each person is naturally endowed with unique inclinations that turn into abilities. Develop what you are passionate about and prioritize what interests you. In psychology, this is called the principle of conformity with nature, that is, following one’s individuality and uniqueness. And you can learn how to bring this to life from the article “I want, I can, I must - the rules of choice. How to combine them in life and be happy.”

Finding your own values

To be able to correctly set your priorities, you need to analyze your own thoughts and desires. Psychologists recommend finding time for yourself and answering four simple questions:

what does a person want locally and globally;
what are his goals in the direction of his dreams;
what he is ready to do to achieve his goals;
what a person can give up in the next five years.

Answering the questions posed, a person will suddenly catch himself thinking that he knows how to prioritize in life. He will decide on his desires and find the right solution to the issues. And the last point will allow a person to weed out everything unnecessary that may interfere with him on the path to his dream.

Such self-analysis should be carried out at least once a year, since life is changeable and fleeting. Plans may simply not have time to come true, views may change, circumstances may change. Thanks to this simple procedure, you can summarize all the work done and draw up a similar plan for the future.

Books

Setting priorities is a process that requires the development of many skills. You need to learn the art of time management, how to make lists and much more. Here is a list of books that will be useful at the start:

"On the Limit" by Eric Bertrand Larssen.
"Effective Time Management" Brian Tracy.
"The Book of Self-Power" by Tony Robbins.
“Power is limitless. How to Achieve Personal Achievement by Tony Robbins.
“What will you choose?” Tal Ben-Shahar.
"Don't Distract Me" Edward Hallowell.
"Getting Things Done" by David Allen.
"To hell with all of it! Go ahead and do it." Richard Branson.

We wish you good luck!

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The art of prioritizing
How to be effective at your job
How to Develop an Effective Action Plan
How to turn a deadline into a friend?
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Key words:1Time management

Abraham Maslow's Categories of Needs

American psychologist Abraham Maslow developed his theory, proposed in the form of a hierarchy of human needs. The pyramid theory has gained immense popularity in the field of marketing because it makes it possible to track the principle of motivation for buyers to sell more goods. But the most valuable theory is for ordinary people who strive to streamline their lives and make them happy. With the help of a pyramid, you can understand what priorities are in life and in what order they should be placed. According to Maslow, there are five categories of needs:

Primitive. These are human physiological needs: food, drink, etc.
Safety. This is a roof over your head, comfortable living conditions.
Communication. Relationships in society, communication skills, affection, love.
Status. Work, career, recognition.
Spirituality. Self-development, self-awareness, desire for spiritual elevation.

Each person can set their priorities according to the proposed principle and track progressive results in achieving the goal. It is recommended to make a pyramid according to the principle: from the most necessary and simple to the most global, long-term and complex. The more often a person looks at his priorities in life, the more accurately he will understand how to achieve perfection and the desired happiness.

Correctly set priorities are the key to happiness and well-being. A person who does not strive for anything will never be able to taste victory. It’s worth streamlining your life a little, finding the right vector of movement, and joyful days will become constant companions of a long and happy life.

Detailed list

Different priorities:

Home, money, comfort. Orderly life. Close relationship with the sphere of family and leisure, as well as work, business and business.
Family, children, mutual understanding. All long-term relationships in couples, relatives and friends. There is also love (care, respect, attention).
Love, relaxation, entertainment and excitement. Values of joy and pleasure: travel, romance, games and so on.
Education and professional development. As a rule, doing any business is not complete without experience and education. This simultaneously concerns the spheres of “business” and “own development”.
The next example of life priorities is career, status, power. The value of social development, which implies obtaining new opportunities to do and influence and gaining a higher social status.
Business, projects. This refers to everything a person does in life: work, plans, ideas and projects.
Health, beauty, harmonious development. This is the value of the body: appearance, figure, muscles, ability to move. Refers to one's own development and personal life.
Personal growth, psychological and social skills. Everything related to personal development. In short, this can be called wisdom: maturity, attention to other people, thoughtful conclusions. Psychological skills include mastery of emotions, overcoming fears, clarity and purity of thinking. Social skills - behavior in society.
Spiritual growth, knowledge of life, realization of purpose. Spiritual aspirations are evidenced by a life intended not only for oneself, high motives and the desire to leave something good behind.

Setting priorities and starting a better life

If you take control of your life, you will free yourself from unnecessary obligations and be able to devote yourself to those relationships that are truly valuable. Start creating a life in which you take the people, places, things and principles that matter most to you.

I encourage you to focus on areas of your life that are already thriving or have the potential to grow. The seven criteria listed above are a basis for self-assessing your relationship and will help you make decisions about your future. Our resources are limited. Therefore, we need to do everything possible to ensure that our investment in relationships or actions pays off to the maximum.

Translation of an article by Suzanne Degges-White.

Start your day by eating frog

Once you've prioritized your life or work (whichever method you choose), it's time to choose the right way to start your day.

The way you start your day sets the tone for everything else. And often, completing a large but important task gives you the momentum, inspiration, and energy to keep going .

This is why countless productivity experts suggest spending time on your most important task (the frog) every day.

If you eat a frog in the morning, the rest of the day promises to be wonderful, since the worst of the day is over. Mark Twain

When thinking about how to prioritize your daily work, try putting one of these frogs at the top of your list.

Although I myself like to start the day with simple things to get involved in everyday life. And then with coffee I make the most important plans.

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Eliminate "good enough" goals with Warren Buffett's 2-list strategy.

It doesn't matter how efficient and effective you are every day if you're working towards the wrong goal. That's why it's helpful to periodically re-evaluate your long-term goals and priorities to make sure you're still on track.

Here's one great way to do it from billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

As the story goes, Buffett walked his personal pilot through this process to help him prioritize his career goals.

The first step is to write down your 25 desired goals. These could be life goals, career goals, educational goals, or whatever you want to spend your time on.

Now circle your five most desired goals on this list (if you're doing this right now, circle first before moving on).

Finally, any goal you don't circle goes on your "avoid at all costs" list . Instead of working on these goals when you have time, you should actively avoid them. These are tasks that seem important enough to deserve your attention. But it doesn't move you towards your long-term priorities.

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What does this mean in science?

Here this term means primacy in the field of scientific achievements . It belongs to the one who made a discovery, invention, or conducted useful research. For example, the term can be used in the following situations:

The priority in Arctic exploration belonged to the USSR.
In Soviet times, priority in scientific developments was given to the military-technical complex.
Ivanov has developed a way to increase the efficiency of the company's production; he has priority.

According to the law, priority is given to the scientist who first announced his invention: published information about it in the press or filed documents for a patent.

Evaluate your relationships with people and the way you tend to act

Use the following criteria to set your priorities and take control of your life:

History of relationships - do you feel that this relationship has been “dragged on”? Or is it relationships between different generations, blood ties? Do you want them to be part of the future?
The needs of others—do your actions satisfy the expectations of those to whom you feel an obligation? Parents you meet for dinner with on the weekend? Less savvy colleagues for whom you are a “technical guru”? A friend who is going through a breakup and is looking for someone to drown out his grief with alcohol?
Your needs - does satisfying other people's needs give you strength and satisfaction? Or do you feel annoyed afterwards and feel like a squeezed lemon?
Successful actions/relationships - did you achieve the results or benefits you originally hoped for?
Emotional investment - must be proportional to the emotional return. Are your spending on relationships (or actions) commensurate with the returns you receive?
Is the relationship/action necessary - would abandoning it cause unbearable loss or negative consequences for you or your loved ones? Will you feel abandoned without this person in your life?
Future possibilities - what would happen to you personally if you left this relationship or changed your behavior? What could be the potential rewards of channeling the resources you put into these relationships/behaviors into more rewarding directions?