Your dream matters – Protect it!

Phew, I’ve finally worked my way all the way through Rory Vaden’s Procrastinate on Purpose. It’s been a fascinating journey of self-discovery, as I have honed in on what really speaks to me in each chapter so I can put it into practice in my own life and share my insights with you.

His framework of what he refers to as a  “Focus funnel,” with 5 permissions (Ignore, Invest, Imperfect, Incomplete and Protect) and their 5 corresponding choices (Eliminate, Automate, Delegate, Procrastinate and Concentrate) is an incredibly helpful structure for examining the choices we make with our time and attention every waking minute of our lives.

I like the image of a funnel – wide at the top and narrow at the bottom – it’s a great visual for picturing the literally thousands and thousands of items competing for our attention at any given moment – tasks, information, demands, priorities, agendas, (our own and others’), swirling around our heads, each screaming “Me! Me! Me!”

How do we ever figure out what the heck to pay attention to amidst this overwhelming ocean of possibilities?

Well, as I’ve learned from reading this book, far too often we pay attention to what is screaming the loudest, what Vaden calls the “tyranny of the urgent.”

We cave in to other people’s ideas of what we should be doing, and ignore what really, truly matters.

For a variety of noble reasons – we don’t want to let people down, we don’t want to seem selfish, we want to be team players, and on and on… we over commit, we agree to do things that aren’t really right for us, we end up spending our precious hours and days in the service of… everything except what is truly Significant.

And what is that?  I share Vaden’s belief that we are put on this earth to do something that nobody else can do – to fulfill our unique purpose that is ours and ours alone to complete. 

But how can we do that if we are constantly spending our time serving other’s people’s needs?

Hence, the need to Protect, fiercely protect, mama bear kind of protect, our time and out attention. So we can concentrate on what matters.

Here’s the question Vaden proposes we continually ask ourselves:

“Is what I’m doing right now the most significant use of my time?”

In other words, is this task moving me towards my greatest contribution to the world? Is it allowing me to be my highest and best self?

If not, the answer is clear. Not always easy, but clear.

Stop doing the little things for now, so you can concentrate on the big ones. Protect your Priority.

So dear reader, here’s Vaden’s question for you today: ”What do you need to give yourself permission to concentrate on?”