Category: Priorities

One of my martial arts students apologized to me the other day because she had a schedule change and wasn’t going to be able to make it to every available adult class anymore.

…And instead of training five times per week, she would only be able to train four times.

Two times per week is a complete and healthy training schedule—for those who don’t know. And so, of course, I told her not to apologize and that it was totally and completely okay.

A few minutes after the interaction, I happened to have a flashback moment to the time when I was originally pitching the program to her (after she had signed up her son) and remembered her saying that she was very busy and unsure about whether she’d be able to fit training into her schedule.

And I smiled and felt good about the idea that martial arts became a priority that transcended the excuse of busy.

Because it’s never that we’re too busy… is it?

…It’s that we have other things we’d rather be doing or are—consciously or unconsciously—prioritizing. For better or for worse.

One of my instructors was telling me how drama was ruining some of her recent tournament experiences.

And after listening to all that was going on, what I told her was simple: don’t let something small like drama ruin something so great like legacy performances.

She’s in her national martial arts tournament era—and the experiences she’s having competing at that level are undoubtedly becoming memories that she’ll cherish forever.

…The last thing you want to do is let something petty, juvenile, or ridiculous steer you from that incredible path.

Five years from now, you won’t remember the drama in the least.

But five years from now you’ll definitely be proud of all that you pushed yourself to accomplish… And watching the videos of you putting your entire life force into a single performance is what legacy is built on.

Steer clear of the drama. Don’t let drama steer you.

An employee of mine got the lead role in a local theater play—and today I got to see her perform.

When she first told me about this opportunity and how she got casted as the lead, it meant she was going to be much less available for work—because she was going to have to devote much more of her available time to preparing for the play.

As a boss, it’d be easy for me to get upset about this because of how it affected my ability to staff the school.

But, I was as supportive as I could be and looked for opportunities in her absence.

And after seeing her perform today, I’m so glad I did.

Seeing her perform was the most I’ve ever seen her express herself… it’s the most confident I’ve ever seen her… it’s the most alive I’ve ever seen her.

If both her and I were too zoomed in on the short term… she might not have gone through with the play. Maybe she would’ve chosen the short-term money from working her hours and/or maybe an overreaction from me would’ve made her choose differently or feel badly or at the very least not invite me to see her perform.

…And what a shame that would’ve been.

The long term focus, zoomed out perspective is almost always the way to go.

Because what it implies is a short term sacrifice for a later, larger gain.

…Much better than the long term sacrifice for the shorter, smaller gain.

• I use Claude to answer my random curiosities / summarize large or complex problems/questions. For example, I asked Claude recently to summarize who and what will be on my voting card on Election Day. This was quite helpful, even though it was a pretty small election year. I’ve also asked it about the government shutdown, international conflicts, news rumors, and so much more and it always delivers.

• I use Koupon to find all of the best deals online—even the hidden coupon code ones—so I don’t have to waste time, energy, or money. It’s like shopping on an app where only discounted items show… my kind of shopping for sure.

• I use Jerry to quickly shop and compare car insurance coverage options for me. It lists all of their competing prices and what the coverage includes. So. Much. Easier. Than calling every single company every year to keep my coverage price competitive. It also has an option to track how you drive and reward you for safe driving.

• I don’t use AI for Writing. This is a personal choice. I like the struggle… the fight… the challenge of figuring it out for myself: What do I think? How can I best share these thoughts? What personal stories/experiences/anecdotes can I incorporate? This isn’t to say using AI to help brainstorm ideas, create rough drafts, and edit like a college professor aren’t extremely useful tools. It’s simply to say: doing the inner work and building the skill(s) are higher priorities for me.

My question(s) for you are (1) how have you been using AI? and (2) what are you prioritizing in the age of AI? Send me a reply :)

I don’t know about you, but I like my water carrying buckets hole-free. And while you might agree, you might be surprised at how many holes are in your money-carrying buckets that you’re either consciously ignoring or blind to see.

Things like delivery fees for food you could’ve gotten for a fraction of the cost at the store or picked up yourself… credit card charges for goods and services you should’ve paid off right away or could’ve done without… subscription services for entertainment apps you haven’t used in months… high utility bills because you’re careless and use way more than what you really need… insurance on your house or car that’s jacked up in price because you haven’t shopped around or have been too lazy to participate in rate reduction programs or courses…

See what most people don’t understand… or maybe just want to be too bougie to have to worry about… is that patching leaks is an excellent strategy for keeping more water in your bucket. And while, yes, putting more water in your bucket can also result in you having more water in your bucket… it can also lead to bigger and more exacerbated leaks. Especially if you never pay any mind to them and let them deteriorate, rust, and crack unchecked and freely.

The mindset is this: take care of your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.

Remember that when it’s inconvenient to do something… it may be in that exact situation that you prove another thing’s (or person’s) priority.

…Is it inconvenient to go out of your way to do an errand for someone else? Does it also prove that person’s priority?

…Is it inconvenient to cook a full meal vs microwave something frozen? Does it also prove your health’s priority?

…Is it inconvenient to wake up early before your dependents so you can have some “You Time”? Does it also prove how you prioritize self-care?

We are wired to take the path of least resistance. But sometimes, the long-term path that results in the least overall resistance is the higher resistance path now.

My frustration from yesterday’s post wasn’t with the college student who quit.

What was disheartening was the fact that she felt she couldn’t devote 1.7% of her waking hours to something as life-changing, useful, and important as exercise.

…My frustration was with Med School.

My frustration was/is that there isn’t more of an emphasis on mental health and exercise from the department heads/teachers/colleges themselves.

…How can they train people to be doctors when they’re literally training people to build such unhealthy and debilitating habits? …I can only imagine how much caffeine, crappy food, and unmentionable things med students feel like they need to consume just to keep up with the workload.

And then after 4-8 years of consuming ungodly amounts of said items, not exercising, disregarding their mental health… they’re supposed to what? …All of a sudden start exercising, eating healthy, and prioritizing their inner world?

…Because being busy is going to all of a sudden stop?

…Yeah, right.

There should never be a time when you’re too busy to eat right, exercise, and prioritize your mental health. Except maybe for extenuating circumstances when you have to care for / prioritize dependents.

But, even so… we can only give to others what we have. We can only build in those around us what we’ve built in ourselves. And if what we’re building in our doctors—the people who are literally supposed to be the epitome of health and wellness—is a disregard for healthy eating and exercise when busy and dependency on caffeine and other drugs to get by…

…What are they going to (continue to) build into us?