Goal Setting vs. Priority Setting
Goal setting gets far too much attention and priority setting far too little. While both are important, it’s pointless to set goals if you then ignore your priorities.
When you set goals you typically don’t get to check them off for many weeks, months, or years. In other words, goals are about your future. As a result, you can’t evaluate a failed goal until it’s too late to do something about that particular instance of failure.
Priority setting, on the other hand, is about today and everyday. It’s about how you choose to spend your time and what triggers your desire to procrastinate on things you say are important but don’t do. Every single day you can look back on the day before and evaluate your priorities.
Simply stated, if your priorities don’t reflect your goals then you either need to change your goals or change your priorities. If you aren’t willing to do this, then you have become comfortable being delusional about your future.