Life can be beautiful in its chaos and entrancing in its opportunities for connection. Today, we are the person who was molded by our life up to this point. Tomorrow, we will be a slightly different person, changed by the experiences of today. If we attempt to predict who we will become in the future, at the whim of our daily lives, our predictions are increasingly inaccurate the further into the future we imagine. We can better predict who we will be in one minute than who we will be in one year. Life changes us, very much so, but we too can change our lives.
Prioritization is how we determine the importance of our life's components (e.g. activities, interests, people). We set that priority through the application of our time and engagement. That priority then defines the thing's impact and integration into who we are. For example, I have spent many many years being interested and engaged in adventure seeking. That interest has become a part of who I am, all the way into my daily personality. Our choices today will form routines, those routines will become habits, those habits will solidify into our minds and become us.
We should be intentional with how we set our priorities everyday. Today, my first priority -- having finished a bit of breakfast -- is writing this article. Tomorrow, I'll set my mind to other tasks that are of priority as well. In the film Groundhog Day [IMDB], Phil Connors develops a routine, setting his priorities of the day such as to maximize his impact on the town around him. Through the routine exercise of these experiences, he becomes someone whose personage reflects his forming priorities of kindness toward people, development of self, and an exploration of art.
Who do you want to be? Define yourself with a goal in mind and build routines that will move you toward that goal. Set your priorities in life such that who you become is who you wanted to be.
