“Indeed, the river may rage, yet [she] is not disturbed; [she] is confident, though the [River] Jordan gushes into [her] mouth."—The Book of Job
One thing I hear in conversation after conversation is the longing to live a life in accordance with purpose and vision. People long for lives of meaning, they really do. Lives that have impact and significance, doing things that have positive effects on others. Yet most of us are drinking from the fire hose, so to speak, overwhelmed by the daily demands and torrent of information coming at us all the time.
I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time on what David Allen of GTD fame calls the “runway,” the factory floor where the stuff actually gets done. Some days, there are lots of fires to put out. Other days, my ability to focus is nil and distraction is at an all time high; I can’t stay on task to save my life. It’s not that I don’t know what’s important to me or that I lack a sense of vision. It’s that my priorities sometimes get driven from the bottom up. Whatever is most urgent or easiest gets done.
A while back I read a wonderful book by Steven Pressfield called The War of Art. Pressfield describes the struggle against Resistance--that force that opposes the completion of all great works from novels to the war on poverty and everything in between, mundane or divine. He points out that Resistance only acts when we attempt lofty goals: “[Resistance] kicks in when we seek to pursue a calling in the arts, launch an innovative enterprise, or evolve to a higher station morally, ethically, or spiritually.” What this means is that when you attempt to order your priorities from the top down, you’re going to meet with significant amounts of friction. Staying on the runway all the time is easy; getting sufficient speed to get off the ground, turn off the fire hose, tame the River Jordan…now that takes effort.
The other day, I was out hiking with my dogs. I went hiking because I needed to get away from my desk and do some higher level thinking. I’d been contemplating some the areas of focus and responsibility in my life. What I really wanted to was to get some clarity on my goals for the next year or two. Frankly, as I was hiking, I was feeling a bit selfish. What right, I asked myself, do I have to take off and go hiking just because I need to think?
That’s when it hit me. That kind of thinking couldn’t happen in my office. There were too many things calling for my attention there. I had to get off of the runway and out of the river. Literally.
Ultimately, your priorities are what you do. Regardless of what you say or think about what’s important to you, if you’re not doing it, it’s not a priority. You have gifts and strengths, talents and abilities, a unique role that the world is waiting for you--and only you--to use for some great purpose. The only way you will get to manifest that calling is to order your priorities from the top down.
So turn off the flow, and dam the river if you have to. Take one big step back: what is really important? Attend to what’s most important to you today.