219. Recognizing What Matters: Finding Your Priorities

Awareness preceds change, reflections transform your life. 

In this episode I talk about how I align my life with my priorities and how I regularly check-in with myself and how this keeps me grounded and focused as well as clutter-free. 

If you're ready to go from sabotaging to supporting environemnt, listen in as I introduce my brand new 21-day jumpstart program designed to help you transition from chaos to peace by organizing your business workspace. 

From Chaos to Peace Consulting Inc - https://connygraf.com

Get notified of the next live round of Chaos to Peace Jumpstart

Chapters

• 1:46 Recognizing What Matters
• 5:32 Finding Your Priorities
• 15:24 21-day Jumpstart program

Transcript

Conny Graf: 0:58

Welcome to the Chaos to Peace with Conny podcast. I am Conny Graf, your host. I am here to explore with you how a few minutes a day can keep the chaos away, and with chaos I'm talking about the physical, digital, social, financial, mental, emotional and spiritual clutter that can accumulate in our life and business and our finances. Clutter is so much more than you think. I created this podcast to inspire you to do something about it. It's my deep desire to help you understand that you, too, can create and maintain an organized and supportive environment spending only a few minutes a day. Thanks for being here and enjoy the episode. Well, hello, my friend, welcome to the podcast, and thank you so much for allowing me back into your ears. I want to talk today about how I reflect on a daily basis to make sure I'm living according to my priorities, and how and when I got confirmation that I'm on the right path, on what is important to me and where I want to spend my time, energy and money, and how you, too, can take inventory of your life in this way and how I can help you with that. So please listen all the way to the end of this episode, as I have an opportunity for you to join me and a few select other mindful people to jumpstart your journey from chaos to peace. I call it 21 day jumpstart to an organized and supportive business workspace, and again, I will tell you more about that at the end. Because first, I want to talk about values and priorities and you will see how that ties into what I'm going to talk about at the end. So last week I had Andrea Johnson as a guest on the podcast, and if you haven't listened to that episode, make sure you go and listen after this one. Andrea talks about core values and how they are like a guiding compass. They give us so much clarity and then it's so much easier to align us and our life choices Right. And so this reminded me of two podcast episodes I did way back at the beginning, when I started my podcast in 2020. And I realized they are worth revisiting because I talk about how, priorities, how I call it, not values, I call it priorities, but again, you can call it values, priorities, principles, whatever you want to call it. We don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of that, but just how these priorities help us with clearing the chaos around us. They help us getting clear in our brain and then, most likely, clear on what actions we need to take. My opportunity at the end will help you with taking the action, but anyway.

Conny Graf: 4:04

So episode 10 was called Priorities and Gratitude, and I talk about in that episode, about how to figure out what your priorities might be. And remember that was in the middle of the pandemic when I shared that episode episode 10, that was April 2020. And so if you go and listen to that one, it talks a lot about us being stuck at home. The other episode that I want to mention here is episode 14, called align your space with your priorities. I think that was May 2020. So also still deep in the in the pandemic, but I do feel the pandemic was probably a time when we figured really out whether we're living this the right way or with the surrounding ourselves with the right things. I have heard a lot how people were moving out of their current home into a new home because they realized that's actually really not how they wanted to live, and so that's where these two episodes came from, and I really got reminded of them last week when I was chatting with Andrea about her viewpoint on values and principles. So what I want to share with you real quick today in this episode is the way I see it.

Conny Graf: 5:37

Living a clutter-free life and running a clutter-free business is all about priorities. For example, for me it was always a priority to live in a place that I love, a place that I enjoy not just any place, any house or any apartment, and if you're a long time listener then you have heard that I live on acreage of horses, dogs, cats and chickens and ducks, and that's a way of life I dreamed to live since I was a little girl. You also may know that I work self-employed since 1998, that I worked a lot from home because I love my home so much, because I love my home so much and that was one of my priorities right, to be able to work from home or also to work from wherever I wanted, and I kind of did that already back in 2003. I started with that when not everybody was already working remote or was working the laptop lifestyle or was working the laptop lifestyle right, but that was kind of always my priority. But now priorities can change during our lifetime, so we want to make sure we constantly check in with them and make sure they're still up to date. So to call so to say so.

Conny Graf: 7:00

What I do is every morning I start my day with feeding my furry and feathery family the horses, dogs, cats, ducks, chickens and then I go on a short walk along the property line to make sure the fence is intact, and this is my way of checking in with myself. I call it active meditation because I'm not just sitting still somewhere, I am actually moving and I'm doing the things that need to be done here on the property, but also it helps me check in with myself Also because I'm in the woods and it's still there and quiet and no real distraction, right? This is an important step that maybe a lot of people miss. It is important to realize that awareness precedes change. So I'm no expert, but what I know of the cognitive behavioral therapy model is that it shows that our behavior so our actions, or our inactions too, like when we procrastinate or not take action even though we know we should they are all driven by our emotions and in turn, our emotions are created by our thoughts. So the chain goes like this First is the thought. What results is the emotion From the emotion? There is behavior that's what the action or inaction is and then this trio, these three things together thought, emotion and behavior. They produce the results that we have in our life and business and in our environment.

Conny Graf: 8:53

And you have heard me say before all clutter starts in the mind with thoughts. First we clutter up our mind with limiting beliefs and all kinds of other unnecessary and stressful thoughts, and if we don't take action then we create also outside clutter. If we don't take, if we don't make decision, we create outside clutter. But what? What starts to help us realize this circle kind of of thought, emotion, behavior, and then the result or the outcome in our outside life is the awareness. And again, that's what a lot of people miss when they try to clear their clutter and chaos. They miss to gain awareness of their thoughts, of their emotions, of their behaviors, and so they may just look at their results and get upset and try to change their results without awareness.

Conny Graf: 9:56

But again, I want to remind you to gain some awareness. And here is what I do In the morning I go on my walk and I intentionally think about how I think, about my life and my business, and then every day, throughout the day, I also take a few minutes and pay attention to what lifts me up, what cheers me up and, on the flip side, what is more of a burden to me and what has become unimportant to me or what is stressing me out or annoying me. And you can do that too. So I think that's where I would start. Maybe you don't have property where you walk along the fence line, but you could go for a short walk in the morning and then, throughout the day, just become aware of these things. Pay attention Again. Pay attention to what lifts you up and what cheers you up and, on the flip side, what is more of a burden and what has become unimportant or annoying or frustrating to you.

Conny Graf: 10:57

Since we talked about the pandemic already, another tip is that you can remember back how you felt during the pandemic, about your home, about your things. Maybe reflect and remember what you thought back then was important to you, what you were missing during that time. And you know I'm not saying that less stuff would have made our self-isolation necessarily easier, although it might have. Like if you had a cluttered home, it might have been unnecessarily harder on you compared to if you really loved your home and if you looked at it as a sanctuary, like I look at my home. Maybe, or maybe not less stuff would have made your self-isolation easier, but what I'm saying is that in those weeks back in 2020 and 2021, maybe you were more aware of what is really important to you or where and how you really want to spend your time, energy and money, and maybe you also got to know yourself a bit better and you remembered certain dreams and aspirations you had before.

Conny Graf: 12:11

But then we got back into our so called normal life right after self isolation and after the pandemic and you got right back into that daily grind or daily rut and didn't change anything. So I invite you to reflect back and reflect during the day constantly, like what I said, and just become aware. Become aware because, like I said, awareness precedes change. Another thing you can also do is you can listen to episode 213 and do the love tours through all the categories and you can really do that in all areas of your life in your home, in your paperwork, digital, mental, emotional and social areas. You can do a love tour and I explain it all how to do that in episode 213. And that helps us really to become aware what all we have in our life, how we feel about all that stuff, and it makes it easier to identify our priorities and whether they, whether that stuff is part of the priorities and or whether you need to let it go because it really has no purpose in your life. So that's that. And then as a last thing I want to say is I really highly suggest you write your findings down.

Conny Graf: 13:40

So if you do these reflection times during the day and if you listen to the love tour, it's important that you write it down in a journal or a diary or a piece of paper that you want to write things down. Maybe you want to draw, make doodles or whatever helps you, whatever kind of person you are. But I do think that just thinking about stuff sometimes doesn't give us the insights we're looking for and, on the other hand, when we write things down, we take at least some action ourselves, kind of like by writing. Writing things down. A lot of people say handwriting is important. Writing things down. A lot of people say handwriting is important.

Conny Graf: 14:28

I do it often because I'm too lazy to go onto the computer or and I don't want to go on a phone because then I just get distracted. So I scribble something down on paper. It just helps to become more aware, we get it out of our mind and then we can look at it on paper and then we may get some insights. And sometimes the insights don't come right away, so you just keep the piece of paper somewhere where it's visible and maybe you add something to it, or you read through it again when you drink your coffee or your tea or and all of a sudden you get really more insights. And yeah, and then, once you have these insights and you realize certain you don't live your life by your priorities, or your home and your office and your business don't reflect your priorities, then you can start writing down small changes and start implementing small changes that get you on the journey towards living living your life by your priorities right and creating the space around you that reflect your priorities.

Conny Graf: 15:31

And this is where we get into the opportunity that I was mentioning at the beginning. If you, for some reason, don't want to do this work alone, if you feel like you need more guidance or you want to hear how, what other, what insights other people have when they do this work, then I have an opportunity for you, because what I'm right now putting together is a 21 day jump start program for you to move from chaos to peace in a few minutes a day, and I'm breaking down all my best practices and strategies for getting and staying organized in your workspace, files and finances. And this is something that I have wanted to do for a long time and I actually this is the first iteration of it, and I want to build this up and out into something bigger that I'm probably going to sell eventually at a higher price point. However, right now I'm really looking for just like seven to maximum 10 founding members, and these first founding members they're going to hop on, live with me every single week for three weeks and we're going to break down my three core components and ingredients to an organized business, like in your office, files and finances. And so, to give you a quick overview, in week one we start with peace of mind, the mindset that we need to get into in order to create that, what we want, what mental and emotional clutter we have to start to let go of. You'll figure out how you tick, what works for you and what doesn't work, and I introduce you to a shortcut from astrology to figure that out for yourself.

Conny Graf: 17:25

And then, in week two, we'll be setting up your workspace, the physical workspace, so your desk and the immediate area around it, as well as your digital space like your computer desktop and filing system. I will talk about how I introduce it to my structure, which makes it really simple to know how to set up and how to organize everything that it works for you. And then in week three we're gonna set up the finances and we will focus on what is way more important than getting your numbers to your accountant to prepare the taxes. This is, I mean, yes, we all have to do that. That is mandatory. But finances for your business is not just the taxes. There is way more important things and I will talk about how we can with ease create some structure and peace in that area of our business. So in my eyes, this is a powerful training and it is based on 30 plus years of being organized in a few minutes a day and living a lifestyle I really want and making sure I'm not spending my time or my money on things that become clutter because I'm not intentional about spending time or money.

Conny Graf: 18:52

So again, I'm planning on building out this program to be something much bigger, but for the first iteration of it it's kind of like a test pilot. I'm looking for seven founding members Actually only six, because I have already somebody who showed interest. So six more people. You can learn my a few minutes a day approach and you get all the support from me in these three weeks. You can ask me anything, you can come on live calls with me. You will hear what other people have to say, you will have my support in between the calls and we will start when I have enough members together and we will get to work. So if you tried several times to get organized in your business, only to slide back into chaos, and you are interested to be one of the seven founding members, please let me know.

Conny Graf: 19:51

By the end of our three weeks together, you're going to walk away with a foundation and knowledge on how to have your physical, digital space and your finances organized. So again, if you're interested to be part of this program, send me a message on Instagram. My handle is I am Conny Graf, or send me an email at Conny at Conny Graf dot com, and I will give you more information. Okay, my friend, that's it for today. Thanks for listening all the way to the end. Have a beautiful week. Talk to you next time, take good care and spread peace day. Thanks for listening all the way to the end. Have a beautiful week. Talk to you next time. Take good care and spread peace.