Defining my Circles

I recently had the chance to watch an amazing Periscope that really gave me some inspiration to be a better version of myself. And while the point of the 'scope wasn't about this at all, a moment in it spoke to me. It was about defining your circles of priority.

I go through most days with the whole world, and all of the hustle, and all of the noise, and I treat all of that input as having the same value. And that creates a constant sense of panic for me, because I try to respond to all of it. So, I sat down and wrote down who and what is in varying circles of priority.

In my primary circle, it is my husband, my children, our home and our families. That's it.
In my secondary circle, it is my close friends, and my work commitments.
In my tertiary circle, is everything else. Email, texts, social media, TV, acquaintances, and everything else.

But here is the challenge. Until the primary circle has been taken care of, you don't give time and energy to the other things. So, no email, no texts, to TV, no noise and input from anywhere other than my family, until they have been taken care of. Once they are all ready for their day and I have gotten our course set, then I can look towards my work commitments for the day, or reach out to a friend. Then once work is over, and I am back home with my primary circle, and I have carefully committed to them, I can look toward those least meaningful things.

I started to look at tangible ways to do this. Because it isn't easy. It turns out that I am capable of taking a cute picture of the kids, and not posting it to social media immediately. I can get up and take my shower and cook breakfast and plan dinner without looking at my email first. I can let text messages wait until I am not with my primary people.

This is all about forming new habits for myself so that I can feel more present and more calm.

I know that there are a lot of people who are great at keeping themselves focused and centered and present in a moment. I am not. I am determined to feel less like I am living my life like a squirrel, darting about from thing to thing and thought to thought.

How do you turn off the noise in your life? What are your circles of priority?