Identify Your Priorities

Look at the following list of ‘motivators’ and rank them in order of importance, starting with the things that are most important to you at the top. You could write each one on a Post-It note and then shuffle them around until you have a rank order that you are happy with. Or just take a blank sheet of paper and rewrite the list in order of your preferences.

• Colleagues
• Contribution to society
• Current income
• Family
• Friends
• Future earnings or equity ownership
• Geographical location
• Health
• Influence and power at work
• Leisure time
• Personal growth
• Predictable working hours
• Prestige and status
• Promotions
• Security
• Spiritual growth
• Spouse or partner
• Time to think and work alone
• Travel
• Working environment
• Your children

You’re not allowed to have tied rankings – after all, life is sometimes about having trade-offs! If you want to make your millions, you’d better be prepared to give up your weekends. Or if you want to fulfill your personal ambition to travel the world, are you willing to slow your rise to the top? You can’t, unfortunately, have your cake and eat it.

And check that the list really does represent what you want. Are you sure that you aren’t just writing it thinking about what other people – your spouse, colleagues, or boss – would approve of? Then write a brief description of how you would define each item. For example, someone’s top three items might go as follows:

1. Leisure time – ‘I am willing to work late in the evenings, but I never want to have to work on a weekend.’
2. Equity ownership – ‘I want to have share options in any company that I work in.’
3. Spouse – ‘I want to get married to Steve by the time I’m 35.’

When you’ve finished defining your list, look at it. What are the most important things in your life? And what isn’t so important after all?