The best way to know a person’s priorities is to see where they allocate their time.
Personally, this is how I have been allocating my time (in no particular order):
- Piano Teaching
- Personal Growth & Self-Care
- Health & Exercise
- Creativity
- My Relationship
- Household-Related Duties
- Friendships & Family (Honorable Mention)
Let’s go over these one by one:
- Piano Teaching: This priority is self-evident as my “bread and butter” for 10 1/2 years now. I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping my students, seeing them progress, helping them focus on what works in their playing. I also help students try out new ways of being musically creative, including improvisation, songwriting, and composing. There are many benefits for me personally, and this endeavor is undoubtedly a win-win both for students and teacher alike.
- Personal Growth & Self-Care: A lot of what I write about on this blog falls into this category. It includes the “self-help” type stuff like reading and learning how to better myself, as well as the activities I do for my mental/emotional well-being, which includes: journaling, “blissing out” at the cafe, meditating, priming my brain in the morning, recreation, and rest.
- Health & Exercise: For me this is primarily intermittent fasting and running.
- Creativity: It has always been my ambition to be an empowered and skillful creator. These days, my creativity is focused each day on these daily blog posts and on my composing! Side note: check out this ragtime piece I recently completed.
- My Relationship: Obviously my wife is a high priority in my life! We are celebrating 14 1/2 years together (10 1/2 married), and I do all I can to be a wonderful husband.
- Household-Related Duties: This is a somewhat awkward way of saying “all the ways I take care of our home and hearth,” by which I mean everything from managing our finances to putting out the trash. It’s nuts-and-bolts side of the “My Relationship” item.
- Friendships & Family: This I felt at least deserved honorable mention because I do make a priority of reaching out to loved ones in my life. Whether it’s running with my buddy Dave, chats with my other buddy Rick, or calling my mom on weekdays, staying in touch with others is very important to me. It is also a great source of conversation, love, and mutual support.
Now you know what I care about!