Too Busy: 3 Tips for Focusing on What is Truly Important

Most people who think that their lives are too busy actually suffer from a much different problem from “having too much to do.” They actually suffer from a problem establishing their priorities. Rather than more time management strategies, what they really need is the virtue of prudence. overload" rel="noopener noreferrer">Prudence is the virtue of identifying what is truly good for us and making a plan to get it.

Translated into practical action, the first step of prudence is to get your life focused on what is really important.

What is Most Important?

Instead of asking if we are too busy to focus our lives on what is really important to us, the virtue of prudence leads us to focus on those things first, and then give everything else what is left over. So it’s important for us to clarify what in our lives deserves our focus. But there are so many things competing for our attention. How can we possibly break through the busyness and chaos and decide what things are most worthy of our focus?>

Here are a few tips to help you get started.

Tip 1. Realize that this is not just a subjective question or a matter of personal preference. There are certain things that lead to our fulfillment as human beings. There are certain things that lead us to our fulfillment as children of God. We really do need to have our priorities in the right order. The more disordered our priorities, the more energy we waste and the less fulfilled we are. This means that practicing prudence requires us to learn about human nature and human life so we can make intelligent, informed choices.

This is something we will discuss at great length in the Planning for Grace course.

Tip 2. Relationships are the real treasure. That’s why God gave us the two Great Commandments. The first is to love God – to make Him the center of our entire lives. The second is to love the other members of God’s family, starting with our own family.

In short, if you’re too busy for relationships, then you desperately need to learn to focus!

Tip 3. You are not required to do everything that would be good to do. Look, our hearts are big. We want to be helpful. We can see at times that if we don’t step up to the plate and do something, neither will anyone else. We want to be engaged, involved, and active in our society, in our children’s lives, in the Church. But the fact is, we don’t do anyone any good if we burn ourselves out. We can’t do anything well when our lives are so crazy. We end up doing sort-of doing everything and our efforts get wasted. Don’t be afraid of cutting things out of your life, even if they are good things to do. If they’re not mission-critical, they are expendable.

Conclusion: Setting Priorities Keeps Us From Getting Too Busy

These three tips can help you to orient your priorities. If we can live according to our priorities, using them as a compass to show us which activities are really leading us to our destination, we can focus our lives and conquer busyness and chaos. Why not try putting these three things into practice? What have you got to lose, besides living a hectic life with less meaning and purpose?

And if you struggle, don’t worry about it!

Bottom Line: It’s not how holy you are now that matters in your spiritual growth, it’s how committed you are to the process growing in holiness. The purpose of From the Abbey is to teach you this process and to support you as you work on your spiritual life. Are you interested in getting more involved with From the Abbey? Check out the special opportunity below!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.

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