I am sure that you have many things to do today. Some of those things are very important and some are not important at all. But of all the things you have to do, which thing should be your number one priority?

In reality the most important thing for you to do is to keep breathing, if that doesn't happen then nothing else will happen. But in the context of this discussion I'd like you to assume that all the things required to stay alive are being done. When I talk about the most important thing I am talking about the most important of the things that you have the choice to do or not to do.

Most of the things we do in life are a matter of choice. We decide what and when we eat. We decide whether or not we work. We decide who we talk to and who we don't talk to.

Many of the things we do fall into the urgent category but they are still a choice. If the plumbing in your house totally failed then I am sure you would put fixing that plumbing into the urgent category, but it is still a choice. Millions of people in the world have never had the luxury of plumbing. I would not want to change places with them and I'm sure you wouldn't either, but my point is that in a first world society most things we do we do by choice.

So how do you decide which activities are a higher priority than the others?

The traditional system is to divide all contenders into urgent and non-urgent and then to divide them all again into important and not-important. This gives you four groupings.

There are things that are both urgent and important and you give this group first priority. Things that are important but not urgent and you give this group second priority. Things that are urgent but not important, this group is given third priority. And last on the list are the things that are neither important nor urgent.

This is a reasonable way to organize your time and most peoples' lives would be greatly improved by following, daily, this simple system.

However I believe that the most important thing for you to do each and every day usually doesn't fall into the top category and therefore I suggest that you make a slight alteration to the standard system in order to ensure that this activity is given number one priority each and every day of your life.

My suggestion is that you make as your number one priority each and every day the taking of some goal directed action.

Goal directed action rarely falls into the urgent category because not doing it will not threaten your life. However, not doing it is a massive threat to your potential quality of life.

Your lifestyle could be one hundred times better than the lifestyle that you have now. Even if you currently are doing very well it is highly unlikely that you are doing anywhere near as well as you could be doing if you were performing in life to your full potential for success and happiness.

So why not decide today to make your number one priority, today, and each day of the rest of your life, to be to take some goal directed action toward a worthwhile meaningful goal that will enhance the quality of your life.