What are your priorities?

In sports, we ask that our athletes place their sport at a high priority.   To be successful, it has to be that way. 

For a lot of athletes, it's pretty much a full time gig.  During the season, there may be no other priority (often to the detriment of their grades, their families, and their personal growth).

They have to practice, of course, but they also have to train.  That will likely include strength training and maybe stretching, yoga, conditioning, running, study, or some combination of any or all of the above.  Many young athletes have personal trainers and personal coaches.  Weekends might be spent on travel teams. 

The best athletes  understand the sacrifices that you make to be good.  At some levels, those sacrifices are monumental.  Athletes can sacrifice their relationships, their education, even their health in the pursuit of athletic success.

We all prioritize our lives.  We do what we think is most important to us.

I have a friend that tells a story about juggling.  Some of the balls that she juggles are made of crystal.  Those are the things most important to her.  Those are her highest priority.  The others are made of rubber. 

Obviously she pays closer attention to those crystal balls.  She definitely doesn't want to drop one of the.  They might be family, health, religion...any number of things.  She takes great care to preserve and protect them.

But some of those life priorities are like those rubber balls.  She has decided they are less important.  So if she drops one of them, it's OK.  She has learned that there have to be places where you can drop the ball.

 So what are your life priorities?  And where do you put your health on that list?

Do you exercise regularly?  Back in the days of using slides in a presentation, I had one that asked  "what fits your busy schedule better, exercising one hour a day or being dead for 24 hours a day?"

Is your diet a nightmare?  Do you get regular physicals?  Better yet, do you have a relationship with your Primary Care Physician to the extent that when you walk in their office, they know you by name and not by your chart?

Do you smoke?  You know where I feel about that one.

OK, let's look at this from a different direction.  How many "favorite" TV shows do you have?  Are there shows that you build your personal schedule around to avoid missing? 

All of us need some "down" time but how much time do you really need to spend on mindless pursuits? 

Are you willing to do the planning and food prep that is necessary to eat healthy all the time?  Or is it just too easy to drop by the fast food place for lunch and then again for take-out on the way home that evening?

Life, like sports, is all about your priorities.