Day 2 - Kyle's 8 Fs

Just over a month ago, I was reading an e-mail from All Pro Dad with the subject "Are Your Priorities Reflected in Your Day to Day Life?"  The author was talking about sharing in a small group about what five things do you consider are most important in your life. And then, the follow up: What, in turn, takes up the majority of your time throughout the week?

It caused me to ponder.  Can I narrow down my goals list down to the most important things in a few words?  After rattling off the usual suspects, "Faith, family, friends..." I went to one of the big, empty whiteboards in my office to write them down. In doing so,  I also went down the alliteration rabbit hole, as all good points/illustrations/mnemonics should be catchy, right?

"Fitness, finances, flying."  That was six, but I put flying on there as it relates to a career goal, and I couldn't come up with a synonym for career or job that started with the letter "F."

In all of these things, I thought there should be elements of freedom and fun. And so, I ended up with my 8 Fs.  While it seem clever, at least memorable, it also made me think that on a traditional grading scale, Fs are not a good thing to see.  And, when I grade myself on prioritization of these items, I find myself noting various seasons where I've assigned that grade to my lack of prioritization...sometimes in multiple areas.

There have definitely been times where the order has been switched, and not in the healthiest of listings.  While always trying to keep the first two at the top, as the primary provider for my family, for me, finances have often fell right under family in the list.  That too often wiped out friends and fitness.

The goal, especially for the last ten years after going through FPU (there's a lot of "Fs" here), has been to free us from debt, so that we can have freedom and fun, both in the short and long term.  After financing my instrumental rating and commercial certificate prior to that course, it meant to me that I needed to put flying aside until I could pay for the CFI out of pocket; that came three years later.  That, to me, was worth delaying the pursuit to get my family closer to freedom.

Alas, the extra work required to try and meet those financial goals--which were delayed as life happens with a family of six--robbed one of my most important resources, time.  It not only robbed me of it, it robbed my family of it.  How does that grade out? 

And, when you try to work through frustration with multiple goals by working 90-100 hours a week, you get more Fs, the grade type, and less of the prioritized list for which you were working in the first place.  That's failure.

So, I have the current order above.  My goal is the keep the first three at the top, in the order listed.  The bottom three will switch around, but they cannot come above the top two, which are most dearest to me, faith and family.