"It's Not A Priority"

Many of us in the modern world regularly complain, "I don't have time!" and I admit to using the phrase myself on far too many occasions. It's an easy phrase to respond with; it fits a wide variety of situations and is almost always accepted. After all, busy is good, right? It means we are living to our full potential, and doing everything we possibly can fit in our schedules. And what sort of person would expect us to do more than we have time for? Come on, we all know there are only so many hours in a day and no one can do everything.

"Why don't you learn to play that oboe in your cupboard like you've always said you wanted to?"

"I don't have time!"

"Would you mind feeding the cat tonight?"

"I don't have time!"

"Can we get coffee together next week?"

"Sorry, but I don't have time!"

A few months ago I was challenged to rephrase this: instead of saying, "I don't have time," say, "It's not a priority." OUCH! That sure hit where it hurt! My knee-jerk reaction was to object. Of course all these other things are important to me, it's just that I have so much going on that I can't fit in everything that's important to me--I care about a lot of things! There are all these things I want to do, but there are also all these other things that I have to do and I just don't have a choice about them, so the other ones will have to wait.

But deep down, I knew better.

The truth is, we all have time. We have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; that's 168 hours every week, over and over again for as long as we live. And it's the same for every one of us. Businessmen and women with seven-figure incomes, Olympic champions with their medals and trophies, the stereotypical millennial playing video games in his parents' basement, and every one of us in between. 

I choose to take that as encouragement. If others can accomplish so much with their time, and I have the same amount, then I can do great things too. But that comes down to priorities. I expect that all of us have control over how we spend our 168 each week, to at least some degree. How will we spend it? Which things will we do, and to which ones will we say, "It's not a priority"?

After getting through the initial punch of conviction my gut was subjected to, I continued to think on this new phrase I had learned and began using it in daily life. (In my head, if not aloud.) While I still find it convicting at times, I've also found it to be very freeing. When I am asked about an addition to my schedule, or am considering an addition myself, I now mentally add this phrase and see how the result sounds. In some cases the result is one I wouldn't dream of saying, so I take a look at my diary and make things work. In other cases the result is freeing and I don't need to give the issue any further thought. 

"I've been struggling a bit recently, do you think we could get coffee and talk next week?"

"Sure, how about (suggested time)?"

"Hey, have you seen the latest blockbuster??"

"No, it's not a priority."

"Do you think you could stay with the kids one evening so we can go out together? They'll be in bed already."

"Yes, I will bring some work with me."

"You used to enjoy trying all sorts of crafts! Do you still do that?"

"No, it's not a priority right now. Perhaps one day I will do more of it again, but for now there are other things that are more important to me so I am focusing my time on them."

So let's stop lamenting that we don't have time, because that clearly isn't true. Although 168 hours is a finite value, it isn't exactly tiny. We have time. We have a lot of it really. Be honest; what is a priority and what isn't? Do our schedules reflect our proclaimed priorities? If your voice had an autocorrect function and every time you tried to say, "I don't have time," it came out of your mouth as, "It's not a priority," would you be embarrassed or confident and content with the admission?