Writer and Priorities

By Susan Reichert,  Editor-in-Chief  for Southern Writers Magazine 

Jack Canfield wrote, “In life the spoils of victory go to those who make a 100% commitment to the outcome, to those who have a “no matter what it takes” attitude. They give it their all and put everything they have into the result they want. I know this seems like such a simple concept – but you’d be surprised how many people wake up every day and fight with themselves over whether or not to keep their commitments, stick to their disciplines, or carry out their action plans. Successful people ALWAYS adhere to the “no exceptions” rule when it comes to their daily disciplines. Done deal. Case closed.”

Jack Canfield always has good advice and I recommend you visit his site for more: www.jackcanfield.com

We say, “In a perfect world that would be great, but life gets in the way.” And it is true; life does get in the way.

However, perhaps we allow some of our priorities to take a back seat––pushed back, as we listen to others as they voice what they want.

For writers, it is important we have schedules for writing, otherwise, when life happens writing is set aside and before we know it, days or weeks have gone by and we haven’t written anything.

After reading Jack Canfield’s blog, I wondered if we were making these goals without thinking through what our priorities need to be in terms of our time and effort and/or how we can balance these goals with family, friends and time for ourselves.

Maybe the secret is to determine what is most important and to recognize writing, though it could be your passion, is not your number one priority in life. Family is certainly more important than our writing; taking care of ourselves is more important than writing and we definitely need the interaction of friendships in our lives.

With that said, we have seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Maybe we need to rework our schedules making sure we have time set aside for our priorities. That schedule should also include our writing time along with an allowance for flexibility when needed.

To be sure, we need to be watchful of the times we put off doing what we need to do. When we notice this happening, it is time to put on our detective hat and ferret out the culprit.

Most important we want to have a happy, healthy and well-balanced life.