I’ve been busy. Everyone relates. For me, it’s been this major project I work on every year that just scoops me up and drags me under. But, if I’m being fair, that’s only half of it. My husband and I have been doing home renovations, and that’s been taking a lot of time. I’ve picked up a few new clients at work, and I’ve had to get up to speed on those projects too. And winter came ’round early this year, and I need new winter boots, and you know what the stores look like the month before Christmas.

So I did what most of us do when we get really busy. I hunkered down. I minimized all distractions, which meant cutting off many interactions with the outside world. I got real focused on the most pressing items on my agenda. In short, I prioritized.

To some, my actions can be interpreted as callous. I haven’t spoken to most of my friends in months. I keep meaning to make critical phone calls (and, ya, they really are critical) and it just keeps slipping my mind. I stopped cooking entirely for almost nine weeks—what the heck did we do before Skip the Dishes? And for any of you paying really close attention to things like blog posting schedules, I pretty much stopped posting here. Did I mention I’ve been very busy?

The wheel isn’t always squeaky

There’s an expression that says the squeaky wheel always gets the grease. In essence, it means we tend to pay most attention to the things that make the most noise. Stefanie talks about this in some of her posts—she explains that many of her clients can’t find time to achieve their strategic goals because they’re so busy putting out daily fires.

And I get it. I believe that’s true. But I also happen to believe that there’s exceptional power in prioritization. What we genuinely need to ask ourselves when we’re laser focused in one direction is whether the wheel we’re focused on is really squeaky—or if, perhaps, it’s actually something that merits our full attention.

Many years ago, I remember chatting with a friend of mine who’s a lawyer, and he was complaining that he never got any time off work. I asked him how much vacation time he was allowed to take and he said he actually had weeks of accrued vacation—he just didn’t have time to take it. I’ve now come to understand, however, that he was really saying that he prioritized his work over his vacation time. That’s a choice and I’m in no position to judge if it’s a good or bad one. My only point is this: if you’re making this kind of choice, make it consciously.

Here’s where the power of prioritization comes in. If we consciously choose how we spend our time, we can get amazing things accomplished. And we can do that without resenting our inability to make time for other things (like vacations, or cooking, or even visiting friends). The trick is in the choice.

These past few months I’ve been pretty conscious, but not so carefree. And I’m good with that. I understand the swinging of the pendulum of time. I know that, with time, the balance will adjust. And in the interim, I’ve made amazing progress towards my business goals. Maybe one day I’ll figure out how to spread my focus around, like honey or sunshine. Until then, though, you’ll find me clumped up like crunchy peanut butter—no less delicious, I hope, for unevenly weighing down one side.