*“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.” - Greg McKeown*

After months of training and fundraising, my mental bandwidth has suddenly expanded.

With that season of intensity behind me, I find myself asking: Where do I want to direct all this great energy? Where do I want to spend my time and attention?

What are my priorities?

We only have so much time, attention, and energy so we want to be intentional about where it’s spent.

So much comes at us on any given day, week, month, etc…we can be easily redirected away from our priorities without even realizing it.

When we set sail without defined priorities to navigate by, we’re easily pulled off course.

So it’s important to build in a cadence to reflect, recalibrate and stay aligned with what we have decided matters most.

For me, the big buckets are family, connection, and growth.

Even when they are clearly defined, we’re often confronted with the challenge of prioritizing among the priorities.

Priority #1

Friday night, I was settling into a very relaxing weekend that promised lots of time to binge Netflix with Kellie, write, and spend time with the family, when out of the blue, I got a text from my on of my best friends from High School, Eric.

He had an extra front row ticket to the Cleveland Browns home opener if I could find my from way Chicago to Cleveland on Sunday.

There was a mini HS reunion happening and several other great friends from back in the day would be there.

My immediate reaction: Hell yes, I can make this work!

But my excitement also sent a clear message about my priority…me… having fun!

I could tell Kellie wasn’t thrilled with me leaving and doing all the weekend chauffeuring solo. I knew the right decision was not to go. So she knew she was the priority.

Begrudgingly at first, then genuinely, I told her I wasn’t going.

She thanked me. Said it felt nice that I’d arrived at that understanding (maybe not as quickly as she would have liked, but #progress).

She gave me a big hug and we had a nice moment of connection.

Then she told me I’d be an idiot not to get in the car and go to Cleveland. Two hours later, I was on the road.

By making my wife the clear priority, a lane opened for me to have both.

What a revelation.

Connection

As excited as I was to go, I’ve committed to writing weekly on Sunday mornings. Driving ten hours roundtrip to Cleveland meant I’d lose that space.

It was an easy call.

At 49, the number of times I’ll get to hang out with my closest high school friends is shrinking. The “depressing math” of life is sobering.

For me, making the effort to see my friends and chosen family is a no-brainer.

It was worth the effort.

I had a great dinner with one of my oldest friends, Jake. I slept at his house and the morning coffee and time spent with his three young kids was priceless.

That morning, another dear friend, Mike, had a pre-game party and I got to surpise him and his family. I saw his parents and others I hadn’t seen in years.

Then spent I spent the day at the game with Eric, talking through life and all its twist and turns against a brilliant fall day backdrop.

The Browns, true to form, found a way to lose (I’ve learned to de-prioritize them.)

So now this column is landing on Monday instead of Sunday.

Nobody else would notice. But I do. Because this practice is a priority for me — my weekly mental gym session to build the writing muscle.

Recalibration

As I reflect on how the weekend unfolded, I see a through line of how priorities shaped my choices.

Family came first. Connection with old friends came next. Growth through writing got nudged back a day, but not abandoned. That feels right.

I drove five hours home Sunday night, heart full from time with my first tribe of friends. Nostalgia was rich in the fall air of my hometown and I was tempted to stay the night.

But I wanted to be back to take my daughter to school Monday morning — another small but meaningful way of keeping family first.

Now I begin the week in my own home, clear-headed, focused, and recalibrated on my priorities — both for the week and for the bigger picture.

I know something will pop up soon to knock me off course. Progress isn’t predictable.

But repeat the process enough times, and it eventually gets easier to stay the course.

-Coach Kris

Priorities

Distraction

Purpose