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What’s Important To You?

By Ken Stewart on January 16, 2009

3170665842_fe2543a145 I just got hit in the head with a hammer! … well proverbially speaking at least.

This week I returned to work after a long weekend. You remember what it’s like coming off of a long weekend, returning to work – right?

So Monday comes and goes, and I’m asking myself where did 5 o’clock come from? Then Tuesday and Wednesday just flew by. Thursday was a blur, and Friday – well here we are…

Where did the week go? It just blew by!

Have you ever finished a week where you looked back and knew that you did a lot, but knew you didn’t do a lot – that was meaningful or carried through to things you held important?

That was my week, and it really gave me pause. It got me thinking about:

  1. How do I spend my time?
  2. How well do I delegate responsibility?
  3. Am I taking on too much?
  4. Am I in control?

Control. What does that mean? I’m not a subscriber to the idea that you really can be “in control”, but I do believe that you have to take measure and funnel your your time and energy into a constrained direction.

What does a week that blows by tell me? It tells me that I that I don’t have a constrained approach to managing my time to get the output I want. It’s that simple. No fanfare, no bells and whistles going off. Just a flat, dull epiphany.

So the question I should be asking myself is not, “What happened to the week?”. The question I should be asking is, “Do I know what’s important to me?”

Did your week just blow you by? What’s important to you?

Image courtesy of Ana Patricia Almeida

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. To learn more about Ken, visit his about page. You may also find Ken on FriendFeed, Twitter, and LinkedIn.


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Ken Stewart

People-focused, business-minded, technology-savvy leader who likes to ask: "Why?"

  • kallan
    Kia ora Ken

    I think a lot of what you feel about nothing been done, when you did a lot, is to do with perception. I experience this too. I have to counsel myself. I have to look at what I know was done and say, "Have you, Ken, got this on your agenda of what you consider is worth doing?" If the answer to that is no, I then have to do a rethink of what I consider worth doing.

    Sometimes it's just simply in the mind (or not as the case may be). Often I find that I wasn't giving the worthwhile task (that took so much of my time) any credit for being worthwhile. So I then attempt to make a shift in what I perceive to be worthwhile.

    On the other hand, it may just be that the tasks I had to do were not worth while. In which case, I have to review whether I should give them so much of my time in the future.

    Catchya later
  • Sharon
    "Control" interesting concept. I know the professional advances made this week will have an impact... I was faced (brick to the head) with "what's really important" as it pretains to my teenaged sons and their ability to "control" their schedules and success es (two bricks I guess). All of the same questions came to me:
    How do I spend my time?
    How well do I delegate responsibility?
    Am I taking on too much?
    Am I in control?
    As I pondered, they came to me individually and shared what went wrong, what they felt the solutions were and how they intended to respond. For one who felt I had no control it became apparent that the "control" was always there I just had to be patient and realize what I had already accomplished.
  • Sharon, it is so good to "hear" from you again. I still believe control is often a thinly veiled illusion - but I do hear what you are saying... It sounds to me that you are really reaping the fruits of a garden sewn long ago and patiently (and impatiently at times) tended ;-)

    I love your parallel to being patient. I cannot tell you how many times I have been show that patience is required; in managing, in leading, and in serving others - patience has been the key to allow the "plan" to reveal itself to me.

    Thank you for your thoughts. I value them.
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