Avoid the Happiness Vacuum

Priorities: Avoid the Happiness Vacuum

“Action expresses priorities.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

The secret to happiness is simple . . . your heart must get what it wants more often.

But, how do we know what our heart wants? The best way to discover this information is by evaluating our top priorities and pivoting our lives accordingly. Just keep in mind that priorities might not be what most people think. Priorities have very little to do with how much time a person spends doing something. How do I know? The average person spends over 2,000 hours(!) in the bathroom over a lifetime, a priority for precisely nobody I hope. Instead, priorities are something to which we give our best energy, something that matters a great deal. Here are some priorities that make most lists: Family, Friends, Faith, Career, Health. When these key attributes of our lives get the short end of the stick, we lose happiness.

Part of living an authentic life is to avoid happiness vacuums like mismatched priorities. Here is a pro tip to evaluate your heart from the perspective of priorities:

1. Mimic the chart below by drawing a vertical line down the middle of a blank piece of paper.
2. Draw a heart on the top left
3. Draw a picture of you on the top right.
4. Underneath both illustrations, create ten numbered lines.
5. On the lines on the left, list your priorities, in order, as your heart desires them. Here’s the test to determine the rank on the list: in a perfect world where you could do basically anything you desire, what would be the first thing your heart desired, the fourth, etc.
6. On the lines on the right, list your priorities as you currently live your life. Be honest here.
7. Finally . . . connect similar words with a line across the page.

Create one of these for you and everyone in your family. Your blank chart should look something like this:

After you finish steps 4-7 above, your completed chart should look something like this just with different words and lines:

In the end, you should have the same words on both sides of your chart, but they will reside in different slots. You’ve just identified the problem – your heart isn’t getting what it wants. It is really hard to be happy, for example, when your heart wants family first and you give it work. This chart is all the evidence you need to start making changes. So now what? Hang in there because the next few posts will cover critical issues like how to structure this list, how to get stuff to line up horizontally, and how your ideal priorities chart might cost you. We’ll conclude with an approach that will get you closer to #HavingItAll.

The Moral of this Story: Give your heart what it wants more often, and you’ll be rewarded.

For now . . . go do your homework.

More soon,

Corey

• Check out COREYSPEAKS.COM for more on popular keynote speaker Corey Ciocchetti. Corey has keynotes on happiness, integrity, ethical leadership, ethical decision-making, morale, stress reduction, and professionalism. Corey has spoken in 44 states and over 250 cities since 2007.
• Check out Corey’s other cool ethics blog posts on LEADERSHIP and HAPPINESS  – you won’t regret it.
• Corey’s new book, INSPIRE INTEGRITY: CHASE AN AUTHENTIC LIFE is available now!