Prioritize Your Value Despite The Limits Of Time & Energy
Five Steps To Staying Healthy & Content

Another day of coming home after work, changing my clothes and, in the process, seeing my naked body in the mirror.  Another day of seeing the weight I’ve gained.  Another day of wanting something to be different, but, lacking the discipline, time, and energy to make it happen.

Sound familiar? Let’s talk.

Here are My Priorities:
My clinic work – being available, valued and respected by those that want my help as their doctor.
Getting my book, Claire’s Story, printed and available for people to read.
Completing two other books that I have started
Finding Love
My children
Financial stability
Keeping up with the expenses and the bills
Having fun enjoying hobbies like golf and tennis
My health
My body

But, stumbling along with my human nature, it’s not unusually for me to spend most of time focusing on what I’m not doing, as opposed to what I am, on what I haven’t accomplished, as opposed to what I have.

Remember, regardless if we are talking about arthritis and subsequent joint pain, diabetes and the control of our blood sugar, heart disease or obesity and difficulty with exercise, or even common symptoms such as poor sleep, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and even our image….the ‘how’ we create change and move them closer to what we want and need will always be much more important than the ‘why’ we have them in the first place.

So, here’s 5 key tools to remain content, and live your value despite having some dreams and goals that keep getting pushed back.

1. Prioritize Your Value – Know You

This requires self honesty.
Know what you do that gives back to you the most.
There is a reason I put my clinic work, my writing, and finding love as my top three.  In short, I know that these dreams and goals will help me live my value the most.
Not everything I want and need holds the same weight, and, chances are, you have some aspirations as well that are more important than others.
So, the first tool: Prioritize your value. Know what you want and need that will give the most back to you, and then, remain mindful of the choices you are making.  Always ask yourself, are my choices moving me closer, or further away from my top priorities?

2. Don’t Make Less More And More Less

Making a fifteen pound weight gain become a stumbling block that prevents me from achieving other objectives is no different than ignoring a hundred pound weight gain that should be.  Again we have to be self honest.  Priorities of value can change. Simply choosing to ignore the obvious issues in our lives that can greatly impact our value doesn’t make them unimportant, any more than making minor issues major in oder to avoid the more important ones.  If I have gained hundred pounds, but choose to minimize the impact it has on my health and value, essentially, my contentment, and continue to only focus on clinic, writing, and finding love to fulfill me, then, over time, making something less than it should be will eat away at the very goal I am chasing. It’s like walking the wrong way up an escalator.  I should never ignore the obvious, nor magnify the microscopic.  So, review your priorities of value often and be on guard not to make something more than it is, or less than it is.

3. Time And Energy Has A Limit

Just like the number of hours in a day we only have so much energy, be it physical, emotional, or mental.
Have you ever made a list of things that you wanted to get accomplished in a day but failed to get them all done? If so, then welcome to living your value.  Fact is, we only have so much energy to accomplish living our value one choice at a time. If I know that losing weight and improving my body image issue is number ten on my priority scale, then why would I would I spend day after day stressing about losing weight today? Shouldn’t I be focusing my energy on the other nine priorities that precede it?
If you find yourself frustrated because you never seem to have the time or the energy to spend on a given priority, you have two options. First, be good to yourself and understand that there are more important priorities that you are working on right now, or, maybe you have inadvertently made something less that should be more, and, it’s time to make it a higher priority and do something about it.
Again, be self honest. Know that you only have so much time and energy and it’s best to use both of them towards those priorities that will move you closer to living your value today.

4. Today Doesn’t Mean Forever

Priorities we have today don’t have to be the same that we will have tomorrow. As mentioned, priorities can change.
Life, and living our value is a journey. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
For example, I do know that once I move closer to meeting my goals with my clinic work, my writing, and finding love, eventually, I’ll make losing weight more of a priority just like I have in the past.
Knowing what is most important in order for you to live your value today, doesn’t mean that you don’t care about the other things that you want and need. It just means that they aren’t as important today.
So, be patient with yourself.

5. #LiveYourValue

The last, and most important step in prioritizing your value is knowing that you already have it. Just imagine what this world would be without you in it. We are all on the same journey. We might be taking different roads, but, we all want to arrive at the same destination – genuinely loving ourselves and being loved by someone else. We all want to improve, and sustain, our health and contentment.  One tool that can help you achieve this is learning how to prioritize your value, these five steps can help.

Remember, today and every day, make it a priority to live your value one choice at a time.

Dr. D

#LiveYourValue
#LYV
#ActToImpact