We were sitting at a stoplight as my son stared out the window. The car next to us began to roll forward in anticipation for the light change, and my son asked, “Daddy, why are we going backwards?” I tried my best to explain to a 3-year-old that it only felt like we were moving backwards because he was focusing on a moving car, not the ground or our own car, which were stationary. After several rebuttals to the infamous “but why Daddy,” he went back to gazing out the window looking for airplanes in the sky.
I couldn’t help but reflect on that conversation, about how valuable it is to focus on the right things. His focus on that car made him feel like we were moving backwards, which wasn’t accurate. How often do you focus on the wrong things and get an inaccurate representation of how things are going? Keeping things in focus can be tricky when you’re in the midst of life. Here are 3 questions to keep you focused on what matters.
1. Is this a priority?
Could you list out your top 5 priorities right now? Would those 5 answers align with your latest bank transactions or your current calendar? Life seems to always demand more, and if we don’t have our priorities in line, we can wake up one day wondering where the years have gone.
In Habakkuk 2:2, God says to “write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” This can be a simple formula for living out our priorities, for how to focus on what matters. Write them clearly, read them, and go do them.
2. Is it Important?
Without intentionality, we can allow the urgent to overtake the important. For years, I would let a work meeting or other scheduling conflict quickly replace date night with my wife. I told myself, since I lived with her, we could easily find a time to reschedule. We didn’t. Spending time with my wife was massively important to me but I let urgent things replace it time and time again. I have since learned to schedule the important things into my life and let everything else fill in around it.
3. How will it impact my future?
Dr. Stephen Covey says to “begin with the end in mind.” Where do you want to be when you’re 70? When new opportunities come, picture what life looks like 5 to 10 years later. Will those priorities be magnified or dimmed in the future? And how well are you able to focus on what matters during that time?
Sound off: How do you stay focused on what matters?
Huddle up with your kids and ask, “What is one thing that’s really important to you right now?”