What Comes First Today? Motivation Meets Prioritization
Did you know? Motivation and Prioritization are companions, at least when we let them be.
When I talked about Motivation a few weeks ago, I reminded all of us that we have more than one motivator. The common categories are:
Personal growth towards self actualization;
Knowledge and learning;
Relationships and connection with others, belonging;
Happiness, fun and / or joy;
Esteem from others, respect and fame;
Purpose and altruism (positive impact on others and the world);
Success or achievement;
Money; and
Security.
And I am sure that more than one of these motivates you to a varying degree based on the day or the task. Regrettably, though, we can’t always or even often give 100% to every motivation. We have to be ready to narrow our focus. What am I putting first today? What holds the most weight for me today?
For example, my husband and I were talking recently after an especially intense week of work and life and also some medical issues for too many loved ones in a short amount of time.
And I said I needed to shift my perspective, from hypervigilance and expecting bad news to more balance, expecting more good, and maybe even finding some fun. So then, we said yes to many fun things in a very short amount of time, and now today, I am trying to focus on rest! Because life isn’t just a pendulum of work and not-work, it is a landscape with all sorts of other things present, thank goodness!
But that begs the question, what are we doing today or at this moment? What am I putting first today? What holds the most weight for me today? In terms of my last few articles, what is the motivation?
Please, don’t think I am judging or telling you want to do. And we do NOT need motivation or priorities or a focus on productivity all the time. See above - focusing on rest! This is not a hustle culture article or a “more productivity is the goal” article. Far from it.
I am suggesting that awareness, of course, around our motivation and to what we are prioritizing TO can help us to make decisions on how to spend our time or resources, find equilibrium and ease, productivity and also rest, in all the areas of our lives.
I worked with a long-time client recently, and this is an example of when organizing and coaching go hand in hand. We were discussing projects she needs to complete in her home, and she was determining in what order she should complete them. For example, her projects are cosmetic, like having the back porch painted, some patch painting in her main bedroom, and her wrought iron railings in her front stairs sanded and painted. She needs to have her carpet replaced in three rooms. She has vague ideas, but right now, they are just ideas. With A LOT of question marks. When we were considering her ideas and projects, there were many “I wonder”s.
I understand that. I know I have been there before and probably so have you. She self-deprecatingly said that her lack of progress was a problem of procrastination. And, I gently reminded her that it doesn’t sound like procrastination as much as the need for more information before we could make decisions. And she agreed, of course, that “seeking more information” sounded much better than “procrastinating”!
But it's the truth. And we also need to know what her motivators are when we start asking questions. Looking at the categories, her motivation includes relationships and happiness (if she wants to complete these house projects before a family event), money for sure, and esteem from others and security of taking care of her home. We need to ask “What is she putting first today? What holds the most weight for her today?”
Does she want the work done as soon as possible? Is she on a deadline? Maybe a family event she wants to host in a month or two, so she wants these projects completed before the event? Or perhaps the projects are reliant on the weather, like the outdoor painting, so we want to get those accomplished before winter. I am sure there are companies out there that can make new paint and new carpet happen very quickly, but the services will likely cost more.
Then again, is she motivated by having the work done over time to fit in better with her budget? Then we need to ask the questions of pricing and costs, and spread the work out over time.
Knowing our motivators is important, and also being ready to rank them in order of importance given our current problem or situation.
I talk with others about goal setting and prioritization. I love a good Eisenhower Box to determine important tasks that we need to do today, or next week or next month or not at all. But there are many things that might be important to us in life, and we still have to decide between equally important tasks. It may be important for me to do one thing professionally but also to take a break to take care of myself personally.
I have a friend who prioritizes wellness every time. And so that person makes sure that when they are trying to figure out how to spend their day, the first question they ask every time is, “As I commit to other activities today, have I also made room for all of my habits around wellness?” She is motivated by improving her health for herself and for her loved ones. Love it. Great idea. And very important to her. So that is what she's prioritizing to her own health and wellness. So we need to know what we're prioritizing to as we look to prioritize.
I am strongly motivated by relationships and connection. Family always wins. And even more specifically, if I have to decide between multiple motivators, my kids will win, and then my extended family will win over esteem, achievement, money, etc. Yes, I am motivated by all of those things, but relationships come first.
I have a coaching client who is great at identifying what motivates her. Professional success, her spouse and child, and building a creative hobby into a side hustle or even a full time business. And with that list of motivators, she has to choose how to spend her days. I left her with the questions of “What am I prioritizing to today?” “What am I putting first today?”, “What holds the most weight for me today?” and she found that helpful for focus.
Sometimes we're prioritizing esteem from others. Sometimes we're prioritizing fun, or learning, or making an impact on others. But since resources like money, for my client, or time for me are not unlimited, we still need to ask the questions. What are we putting first today? What are we basing decision making on? And the answers can help us order our steps.
“What am I putting first today?” and “What holds the most weight for me today?” are powerful questions that can help us blend our motivators with our priorities to focus on today’s most important efforts.
