This week I want to talk to you about priorities.
Honestly, today was a crazy day for me because I launched my latest (and most ambitious, I must admit) Made Vibrant resource: The Better Branding Course.
What began as an idea for a simple 6-lesson course sharing my client process and basic branding principles turned into something much bigger and much more exciting along the way. It became my mission to make design (and more specifically, branding) accessible and affordable to even the most novice business owners, especially those that consider themselves “non-designers.”
Looking back now, I think I might have been slightly delusional when I convinced myself I could move across the country in April and launch a 26-lesson course in May, but I’m actually glad I challenged myself to the limits of what I thought I could accomplish, because I did more in less time than I've ever been able to do before. I focused on one goal, and I made it happen. I created something that I'm truly proud of, something I know will help people elevate their businesses.
But how exactly was I able to make that happen?
The simple answer is that I made this course my priority.
For a little over two weeks now, ever since I put the May 18th date out into the ether as my launch date, with each passing day I realized more and more ways that I wanted to enhance the course - better screencasts, more resources, clearer exercises. And so I spent almost every waking hour bringing that vision to life.
As Gandhi so eloquently put it:
“Action expresses priorites.”
What you spend your time on is a direct reflection of your priorities.
“What you spend your time on is a direct reflection of your priorities.”
For instance, I gave up a lot of things these past two weeks in an effort to spend more time on my course. I gave up sleep. I gave up time to hang out with my friends. I gave up watching my weekly TV shows, my typical daily routine, and my sanity at times. Emails still sit unanswered in my inbox. My lettering piece didn't get done yesterday. This email is going out hours later than I'd hoped.
There was a time that all of those sacrifices that I had to make to meet this launch date would have left me in a puddle crying on the floor.
But not anymore.
Why? Because I won't apologize for what I value.
Priorities are just another way of referring to our values, and I value the creative work that I put out into this world. I value quality. I value commitment and sticking to the deadlines I give myself. And so when I sacrifice those things in an effort to put out the best possible course I can, in my mind it's as much about choosing to elevate what I value as much as it's about making sacrifices.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, sometimes in the pursuit of expressing our priorities, things fall by the wayside.
But I think as a society (and especially as entrepreneurs) we could benefit from getting more comfortable with the idea that taking action in alignment with our priorities can (and probably will) lead to sacrifice.
And that's okay.
As my spirit animal, Oprah, says,
"You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once."
The great myth in life is that we all have these spinning plates in the air and we have to keep them all turning perfectly, never letting the proverbial ball drop. Well guess what? Balls drop. Plates smash. One priority rises above while another gets neglected. Emails go out late and coffee dates get turned down. We are only human, after all.
But the true secret to keeping your momentum, to moving closer to your dreams and your goals, is learning to let go of the plates that get smashed and the balls that get dropped.
You go to sleep, you wake up tomorrow and you recalibrate. You re-prioritize. You make different choices. (And I'll tell you this much: I'm going to choose SLEEP a lot more this week.)
I may be exhausted, and who knows if any of this made sense at all, but I showed up and I made something because that's my priority.
So, my challenge for you this week is to think about one of your current goals that you could accomplish if you just shifted your priorities.
If you got more comfortable with the idea of living your values out loud and showing your priorities through the actions you take. If you said no to more things you thought you should do, and yes to more things you feel you must do.
If you're interested in taking your branding up a notch, I hope you'll check out the course.
