Prioritising requires to continually think ahead, to know what’s important, to know what’s next, to see how everything relates to the over all vision. When we are busy, we naturally believe that we are achieving. But busyness does not equal to productivity. Activity is not necessarily accomplishment. What is Required? What must I do that nobody can or should do for me? What gives the Greatest Return? Work in your areas of greatest strength. Is there something you’re doing that can be done quite well by someone else? If so, delegate it. What brings the Greatest Reward? Life is too short not to do something you love. What energises you and keeps you passionate?
What creates the effectiveness necessary for converting talent into results? It comes from the choices you make. Orator, attorney, and political leader William Jeannings Bryan said, “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” People who have passion but lacks priorities are like individuals who find themselves in a lonely cabin deep in the woods on a cold snowy night and then light a bunch of small candles and place them all around the room. On the other hand, people who possess priorities but no passion are like those who stack wood in the fire place of that same cold cabin but never light the fire. But people who have passion with priorities are like those who stack the wood, light fire, and enjoy the light and heat that it produces.
At a certain check post, an Octroi officer observed daily, a cyclist passing the check-post carrying grass for cattle. There was no tax levied on grass and the Octroi officer allowed the bundle of grass to pass. This continued every day for years. Only after retirement did the Octroi officer find a cycle shop near his place of work. To his surprise, he came to know that the cyclist, who used to carry grass, was the owner. Further enquiries revealed that the cyclist all along smuggled one cycle a day across the check-post under the pretext of carrying grass for his cattle. Today, people look for short cuts- to happiness, fame, wealth, and even to God.
The Octroi officer to his dismay found that during his tenure, he had only checked the bundle of grass, missing out on the essentials. Priorities are wrongly placed and essentials in life are forgotten or are replaced by trifles.
We chase the shadows and miss the substance.
