This Matters Because…

This post originally appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 12/6/21.

I love journaling in the morning. I don’t always do it, but when I do, I’m happy I did. There’s something about taking a moment to pause, reflect and get some thoughts down on paper that makes me feel lighter and allows me to walk into my day with a clearer head.  

A few months ago, I bought this “Mindful Journal”. If we are telling the truth, I bought the journal more for the aesthetic than the promised ‘mindfulness’ (:)), but after using it on-and-off for a while, I’ve found I do really like the mindful part of the journal too.

The journal offers a series of prompts on the right-hand side and a lined page on the left-hand side for free-writing. The prompts range from topics like how I feel today…, what I could do to be more energized…, what I’m grateful for…, what I’m looking forward to…, and more. 

Upon returning home from my extended  Thanksgiving break, I was excited to pull this journal out and get back into the habit of using it in the morning. I’m a few days into writing in it again and I’m finding there’s one prompt in particular that is really resonating with me right now.  

There’s three lines in the journal for “today’s priority” and then directly below it, a prompt reads, “this matters because…” 

Because I’m typically filling out this journal on workdays, the priorities I list usually default to work-related deliverables. I don’t know if it’s because I’m in a stretch of work that feels very full and all-consuming (all good things! Just trying to find my balance with some new exciting, but challenging, projects), but this simple reflection has been a game-changer for me. 

For example, some of the things I jotted down last week in the “this matters because” section included:

• This is where I can make an impact on my team right now 
• This meeting is a chance to for me to listen and better understand the assignment 
• Clients are expecting this deliverable and by seeing it over the finish line, I can meet that expectation 
• This sets myself up for success next week 
• Accomplishing this means I can relax and not think about it this weekend 

Pausing to map my top priorities for the day to a deeper meaning (why is it important I do this?) changes my perception and, in some cases, changes how I approach doing said priority. 

For example, the meeting mentioned above was a meeting I was not looking forward to because 1) I’m not yet comfortable with or confident about the material that would be discussed and 2) I really wanted to use that time to cross things off my to-do list. But after realizing this meeting mattered because it was a chance for me to better understand the material and get acquainted with the assignment, my perception changed. I was still nervous as I dialed into the call and those other things remained on my to-do list, but I listened much more intently, didn’t multi-task, and focused on a goal of understanding vs. just getting through. 

My perception changed because I had defined the meaning. 

I wanted to share this today because, let’s face it, it is a hectic time of year. Like I wrote about last week, a funny quote I heard recently was that it’s “‘the most wonderful time of year’ but also… it’s just ‘the MOST time of year.’” 

There are a lot of things vying for our attention right now and I think this little mental exercise can help us sort through all the stuff and focus more on the why (and not just for work-related things, but also personal, social, relational things that are on our to-do lists too)

It’s not about getting more done in less time. And we know there are always going to be things we have to do that we don’t want to do (but also hopefully this test identifies some things that maybe don’t have to be priorities & we should look into asking for help with them). Instead it’s about us finding meaning in any task because we define it. 

So, what do you think? If you’re making a to-do list today of your top 3 priorities, will you put them through the test of defining why they matter?

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