How To Make Yourself A Priority

It’s easy to get caught in the day-to-day hustle of life, especially if you’re a woman. We’ve been raised to take care of everyone else and put ourselves last. Well, times are changing, and it’s more important than ever to find balance in our professional and personal lives while making ourselves a priority.

Being a happy, whole human being takes a back seat to your career, family, friendships, and relationship. Unfortunately, serving everyone else needs before our own is detrimental to our emotional and physical health. Putting yourself first gives you time to renew your spirit so you can put that newfound energy into your life.

This blog isn’t meant to shame anyone who has put their partners, children, careers, families, and friends before themselves. Instead, this is an opportunity to reflect on your past decisions and how you can learn how to take care of yourself now. You have the opportunity to create a balanced life by making a few small changes in your life. This may be an adjustment, but you will find yourself more relaxed, present and improve your quality of life over time. 

What Do I Need To Become The Person I’ve Always Wanted To Be?

Am I the person that I’ve always wanted to be? What do I need to do to become that person? This is a vital question to reflect on on your journey to create space to be a priority. You deserve to take care of yourself and focus on developing into the creative, loving, well-balanced woman that you always wanted to be. Do you need more time to yourself, time to exercise, learn new skills? Grab a piece of paper or a journal and reflect on what it will take for you to become the person you’ve always wanted to be. 

For me, I’ve always wanted to be an organized, healthy, and successful person, but I wasn’t the person that I wanted to be. So, I needed to learn the organization tools to make myself a priority. The first step was to learn from the masters of organization, so I started to read The Home Edit to learn as much as I could about organization my space at home. Next, I wanted to be organized in business, so I started watching Youtube videos on other bloggers and organizing their lives to produce quality content. If you are not the person you want to be, make it a priority to schedule a few minutes a day to learn a new skill. 

Take Control Of Your Life

The first step to prioritizing yourself is setting a 30-minute block of time to sit down and write down what you need to do. You can make a list, journal, or create a spreadsheet. Write down everything that you feel you need to do in your life. Include everything you need to do for home, career, relationships, and health. Include even the smallest task such as cleaning your home, buying gifts for friends, or attending family events. Now it’s time to create two categories. Separate your list into things that you can delegate, eliminate, or keep on your lifts. 

If you can delegate grocery shopping, cleaning your home, or picking up the kids by hiring an assistant. Even if it’s a neighbor who needs to earn a few extra bucks, then it’s time to release control and allow someone else to help you. You can use websites like Care.com, TaskRabbit, or Fiverr.

Delegate unnecessary tasks to others who can help you at work. Do you find yourself taking on more than you can handle? Then it’s time to have a conversation with your co-workers or boss. To be honest and tell them that you are overwhelmed and need help. Create a list of the things that you don’t want to do, and assign those tasks to someone else. You might need to train someone to take over the task you used to do. Think of all the extra free time to focus on the things you love to do.

Get Organized

Managing your time is the best way to get organized, find balance, and give your peace of mind. Set personal goals for the amount of self-care time that you’ll take each year for vacations, meditations, and personal growth seminars you would like to go to for the year. Start by taking at least two days a year to attend a wellness seminar or the spa. Then, pick a date and put it on your calendar, even if you don’t know where you’re doing. 

This also includes personal goals or passion projects like that side hustle you’ve been dreaming about. Write down everything you need to do to get started on paper, and then use your task management program like Trello to assign a task to yourself or other people.

Do you have friends or family members who are retired or go-getter college students who would love to help you research to start your business? Please take advantage of free help and assign them jobs to do and report back on what they find. This will free up more time for you to spend creating ideas, content, and other areas of genius. 

Set Boundaries

Just say no! It’s okay to say no and set boundaries for your life. Free yourself from the guilt of caring for others. Imagine what you could do with the extra hours in the day to focus on your health by making yourself a priority and doing fewer things for other people. Some may say that this is selfish, but it’s the most loving thing you can do. If you’re focusing on what brings you passion, that energy will translate into the other areas of your life. Set boundaries with family and friends and let them know that the time you’ve set aside for yourself is non-negotiable.

For example, if you’ve set aside 30 minutes each day to exercise, that is your designated time to improve your physical and mental health. 

Remember, making yourself a priority is the healthiest way to take care of yourself to be present for the most important things in your life. If you enjoyed this blog, check out my latest blog post, How To Be More Productive.