The most precious commodity that you have as 2015 begins is your time – as you look ahead toward the New Year you have 12 months or 52 weeks or 365 days or 8,760 hours. The question is: what are you going to do with them? And the only way to answer is to live by priorities. This is your year to live as the masterpiece God created you to be. To do so, you have to make priorities a “priority” on your Life Palette.

A few short paragraphs from chapter 5 of my book Life Palette will help to understand priorities, followed with 3 questions that if you will spend a half an hour answering, will help you get your priorities in shape for 2015.

“In his novel The Mysterious Island, author Jules Verne writes about five men who hijack a balloon to escape from prison. It rose in the air and the wind soon blew it out over the ocean, but as the journey continues the balloon began to lose altitude. The men soon realized they are going to crash into the surface of the ocean and possibly drown unless they discard some weight from the basket of their balloon. They began by tossing out the non-essentials; shoes, weapons, coats, and the balloon rose once again, but only temporarily. As they sank toward the water once again, they had to lose more weight. They concluded it was better to continue in the air hungry than to drown, so they threw their food overboard and, ultimately, even their gold. Still, the balloon continued to descend, so they decided to cut the ropes holding the very basket they were standing in, leaving them clinging to the meshes. The balloon rose and they survived until they finally spotted land.

Those men were taught a lesson about priorities we’d do well to learn. As long as the gas in the balloon kept them at a comfortable altitude, they kept things in the basket that seemed essential to them. Yet they quickly realized their true priorities as they sank toward certain death in the ocean. What they thought was essential became trivial and was quickly discarded.”

Now that you have a clear picture of what priorities are here are the 3 questions that will help you get your priorities in order.

1.     What do I have to do that no one else can do?

When you feel overwhelmed by obligations, stop and sort out your “have to’s” from you “choose to’s.”  More often than not, you will find that you really do not “have” to do many things rather you choose to do them. What are the things that only you can do verses the things you can delegate, hire done, or simply does not need to be done? In Romans Paul tells us this: “Yes, each of us will have to give a personal account to God.”  (14:12  NLT)

2.     What do I do best? 

What do you do that is a part of your natural gifts and talents? The thing or things you do that you feel anyone can do, but they look at you and ask: how do you do that?  Don’t waste time and energy on pursuits that you are not gifted at. Focus instead on the things you do well. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10 NIV)

3.     What gives me the greatest joy?

There is nothing easier than not being able to fine time to do the things you don’t want to do. It is a mistake to think that you are created to do things that are joyless for you and are drudgery. Jesus Himself said that He came “to give you a rich and satisfying life” in John 10:10 (NLT).

Your success in 2015 will be greatly increased if the answer to the 3 questions above is aligned as your priorities. In other words, if the things you have to do are same as the things you do best and also are the things that give you the greatest joy then you will be successful when you act upon my priorities.

Next Steps For Your 2015 Priorities:

Take a half an hour and answer the 3 questions above to get your priorities in shape for 2015. And if you have not done so already, order the book Life Palette right now so that you can begin the New Year by getting all of your Life Palette in shape allowing God to paint each day or your life this year as His masterpiece. Get a copy today at amazon.com or get a signed copy at LifePalette.com