Focus On Yourself
5 Steps to making yourself a priority – No matter what.
Most people are familiar with Socrates’ quote “Know thyself,” but not many know that he also wrote about the importance of caring for oneself. The full quote goes like this: “Know thyself, for once we know ourselves, we may learn how to care for ourselves.” In today’s world, self-care is something that everyone endorses, but prioritizing yourself can be difficult when you have a busy life.
Learning how to make yourself a priority involves more than just self-care. It requires breaking free from beliefs that keep you indebted to others’ priorities and focusing on your own dreams and aspirations instead. It’s about finding a deep belief that you matter and making yourself a priority, so that you don’t end up last. It’s not always easy, but it is worth it, not just for yourself, but for those you love.
Change Your Mindset
The first step towards making yourself a priority is to change your mindset and stop seeing it as selfish. As Tony Robbins puts it, you need to help yourself before helping others. When we spend all our time taking care of others, we become tired, stressed, and less able to focus and connect with others. We can’t engage with our children or partners, excel at work, or achieve our goals.
When you take time for yourself, you’ll feel re-energized and recharged. You’ll rediscover your passions and personal connections, and maybe even fall in love with yourself all over again. With this new energy and growth, you will be able to help the people who matter most to you even more. So, get rid of the idea that you always need to say “yes” and start putting yourself first.
Overcome Your Limiting Beliefs
After embracing the idea that you must help yourself first to help others, there’s still work to be done. Changing your mindset, and your life, in this way involves identifying and overcoming your limiting beliefs – the stories you tell yourself that hold you back from making yourself a priority.
Do you feel like you need to be everything to everyone? Are you a perfectionist or a controlling person? Such limiting beliefs are often rooted in childhood experiences, where you had to earn your caregivers’ love. If you were made to believe that you don’t deserve love unless you put others first, those beliefs may follow you into adulthood, limiting your ability to make yourself a priority.
Ignore Expectations
Limiting beliefs often stem from the expectations of others. We feel the pressure to excel in our careers, have the perfect home, and keep the passion alive in our relationships. Our parents want certain things for us, our spouses have their own needs and desires, and our friends expect us to keep up with a certain way of life or put the group first. Even strangers can pressure us through advertising and social norms.
To make yourself a priority, remember this: the expectations of others, especially strangers, don’t matter. You must create your own blueprint for your life. When was the last time you thought about what you really want? Career, financial freedom, and relationships are all important, but prioritizing your true goals in each of these areas will ultimately bring you the most fulfillment.
Unleash Your Authentic
Society often dictates our roles, and we become the boss, parent, or spouse. However, when these roles end, such as when our children move out, we can finally focus on ourselves. Unfortunately, after putting others’ expectations first for so long, we can forget our true selves. To find your authentic self, release all others’ expectations and discover what you are genuinely passionate about.
Instead of worrying about others, ask yourself what you want to do with your time. When you find some peaceful moments, what activity do you yearn to do the most? Schedule more of these moments and engage in those activities. Maybe you can wake up early to read, write or engage in mindful activities, or perhaps you can take a weekend off every month to go hiking, cycling or catching up with friends. Invest in your passions to help others better.
Pursue Personal Growth
Many of us lead busy lives, with responsibilities like taking care of our children, working long hours, spending time with friends and family, and caring for aging parents. However, being busy is not the same as growing. You must prioritize yourself to experience authentic growth, and if you’re not progressing, you’re not living.
Make a lifelong commitment to self-improvement and advancement in every area of your life, particularly your personal growth. Keep a diary or list of your self-care activities, new skills, and knowledge. Nourish your mind with inspirational books, articles or quotes about prioritizing yourself. Remember that prioritizing yourself is not selfish, but rather a selfless act that benefits everyone around you
