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Time, Energy, and Money: Managing Family Resources

If you feel you are not living
according to your priorities, answer a
few more questions:

Establishing priorities will help you
manage your resources wisely. Your
priorities will change over the course of
your life. For example, a mother may
step out of her career for a few years,
until her children are in school. For
those childrearing years, her priorities
will center on her children. Later, she will
balance her priorities between career and
home life. What is important is to plan
ahead and anticipate the changes, rather
than let them become overwhelming.

Live Your Priorities

Living your priorities—putting them

into practice—is much more difficult than

talking about them.InFirst Things First,

author Stephen Covey explains we need to

have the discipline and willpower to

exercise integrity,even in unexpected

situations (1995).Sometimes,despite our

best intentions,life will not always

cooperate with our plans.

We offer the following suggestions to

help you live your priorities:

1. What gets in your way or stops
   you from living according to
   your priorities?


2. Do you believe you are not
   entitled to this kind of life, or
   do you feel selfish if you do try
   to realize your goals?


3. Are you unsure of what you
   want to do? Are there too many
   demands on your time? What
   are you willing to give up in
   order to gain more time for
   your priorities?


4. If your life doesn’t represent
   your values, goals, and
   priorities, what do you need to
   do to bring your life in line with
   them?
   
   
   1. Write down your priorities and
      your goals. Post them where they
      will remind you of your
      commitment. This helps to
      cement your ideas in your mind
      and imagination. By becoming
      more familiar with them, you
      make it easier to implement them.
   
   
   2. Before you react to a situation,
      stop and consider your priorities.
      What actions are consistent with
      your priorities? What actions will
      be most pleasing to God?
   
   
   3. Before committing to something
      which deviates from your plan,
      ask yourself if it is the most
      beneficial use of your timeright
      now.
   
   
   4. Have the courage and integrity to
      do what is right, regardless of the
      pressure and urgency you feel to
      do otherwise.