Improve Your Life By Keeping The Main Thing, The Main Thing

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In episode 226 please hear from Taylor Brana DO as he interprets a great quote from Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

The Main Thing is To Keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing – Stephen Covey

Identifying The Main Thing

In life, there are multiple main things to focus on. family, social life, finance, work, health, etc., are all important areas of our lives. How do we keep the main thing the main thing if there are so many areas to work on? The main thing now, may not be the main thing later, but we must identify the main thing to focus on, otherwise, we will never get anything done. Being disciplined to form a calendar and scheduling important events is incredibly important to staying organized. If you do not control your time, your time will control you. 

To identify the main thing: 

Step 1: create a list of all the tasks which are important for you to accomplish. When forming this list, identify and prioritize tasks by level of importance. Also, consider if a task is something that is continuous or prolonged in nature and note that on your list.

Step 2: schedule tasks into a calendar. How you schedule things is less important than being able to consistently and conveniently refer to it.

Step 3: study your calendar so that you are aware of what your schedule looks like. Once you schedule the “main things” you must maintain and keep your calendar. That means saying “no” to things that don’t work with your schedule and scheduling and saying “yes” to things that align with your goals.

The calendar is sacred and allows you to stay on task and focused during that time (of course there can be wiggle room when necessary, and you should pad your calendar to allow room for free space). If you can’t stay true to your schedule and word, how can you really do anything? By working on the discipline to accomplish tasks at a certain time, you will become the master of your time.

Please make sure to schedule a time for rest, fun, social connections, family, exercise, education, creativity, self-education, free space, etc. Important tasks aren’t just productive, important tasks are also connecting. When we can create moments of connection and growth we get to connect and create moments that make us feel fulfilled. When you regain more control of your time, you become happier.

Keeping The Main Thing The Main Thing

Keeping the main thing, the main thing over time requires effort, focus, discipline, and forgiveness.

It will take a great deal of effort and focus to force yourself into a place that may feel uncomfortable inside of you. To begin to work on the tasks you really want and need to work on is challenging! It is not comfortable going from being less cognizant of your time to take back control of it. This mental discomfort is hard! It will require a strong purpose or reason you are willing to push so hard. Think about the reasons you are taking this on.

The stronger the reason, the more powerful the effort. Imagine being able to provide the highest quality experiences for those you care about. Imagine what it feels like to achieve your goals. Imagine who you can be in the future. When you keep the main thing the main thing you will elevate your ability to give in life, and that is going to create an amazing experience for everyone that works with you. The effort to push into discomfort and having a strong reason to do so will keep you focused and maintain your effort.

Discipline is the ability to obey the boundaries you have set for yourself. When we keep the main thing the main thing we must be disciplined. We have to be able to notice when we are off track and course correct. We have to notice when the distractions are distracting us. If we don’t notice distractions and we veer off course, we will never be able to stay on task. By continuously noticing the boundaries, working through our calendar, and maintaining effort and focus, our discipline grows.

Discipline is a practice that works overtime. When we train ourselves to maintain consistent boundaries, focus, and effort we begin to trust ourselves to follow through on the actions and the words we say. This internal integrity is incredibly gratifying and elevates the confidence we have in ourselves. By maintaining discipline we gain trust in ourselves and when we gain trust and confidence in ourselves, we feel happier and more fulfilled with who we are.

Forgiveness is also key in the journey to keeping the main thing, the main thing. As we veer off course or find it difficult to maintain the path we have set for ourselves, we must forgive often. It’s okay not to be perfect in the first weeks, months, or even years. This is all a learning process to get more aligned and improve our process. As we fall off track, it is easy to beat ourselves up and never get back to where we started. That is not the point. Keep a light heart, forgive often, and get back on the path towards your amazing journey.

When we forgive often, the main thing is more easily maintained and we can learn from our mistakes and errors in the process. In fact, by noticing the errors that take us off track, we are able to learn valuable information that can help us stay organized and notice the distractions that continue to get in our way.

Why Take This On?

Learning to stay focused and on task by creating a powerful calendar can seem a bit obsessive, so why do it? I have often fallen into the trap of believing that by keeping things loose and spontaneous I would keep life more fun and interesting. While there is certainly plenty of time to keep space for things, having an organized focus and creating clear boundaries of time, allows us to appreciate the time we have with more depth.

While individuals who tend to be more creative and spontaneous would likely find this article frustrating, it’s actually the best thing a creative person could do. In a world that requires a balance of productivity with rest, relaxation, and reflection, it is important to consider how this will all fit in our time. Most individuals don’t realize how much 16 hours a day (assuming 8 hours of sleep), really offers you. We often waste incredible amounts of minutes and even hours doing things idly or passively, because we aren’t organized and have clear boundaries.

Creating an effective calendar and keeping the main thing, the main thing actually increases our amount of time to have fun, be spontaneous, relax, etc. To accomplish great things in life organization is key! If you want to be a follower, keep doing what you are doing, if you want to be a leader, take back control of your time.

Having a deep sense of purpose or wanting to accomplish a mission requires an organized plan. Whether you are a creator, a musician, an artist, an accountant, an entrepreneur, a health professional, etc., having an organization makes your time more meaningful and forces you to think about being effective. Keep the main thing, the main thing and you will look back and be in awe of what you can accomplish with your time.

Taylor Brana is a Physician and currently in his Psychiatry Residency. He hosts The Happy Doc Podcast and is co-founder of multiple audio educational platforms including MedFlashGo the first voice-based interactive medical question bank. He has a passion for education and inspiring individuals to be their best selves.