There are (at least) three levels of priority. Let’s call them Life Goal Level Priority, Project Level Priority, and Action Level Priority.
Life Goal Level Priority
Life Goals set the priority for everything else. In high school or even middle school, the adults around you started asking about what you wanted to do with your life. At the time, you likely had no idea. I wanted to become a computer programmer, but that was as much as I knew. I also wanted to learn history.
My problem: I completed those in my twenties. I got a degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo. I worked as a programmer for a few years. I returned to school and got a second undergraduate degree in Medieval Studies.
I had achieved my life goals.
Since 2004, I’ve bounced around different employers, a few years at each.
I had other life goals, but they’ve either been soon achieved or dropped. For the last few years, I’ve been searching for what I should do with my life.
- Darren Hardy (darrenhardy.com)
- Mark Joyner (simpleology.com)
- Simon Sinek (simonsinek.com)
- Brian Tracy (briantracy.com)
Everything I can find points me back to programming. Yay, I’ve found my life’s purpose. The question becomes, programming what? Programming is a set of tools. Carpentry can become a lifelong skill, but building store shelves is a different purpose than building school desks.