It’s funny knowing and talking to many successful people, as I’ve said before they all have traits in common. One of the things I hear all of them say is: “make the main thing, the main thing!” Seems like a simple and easy to follow statement, but when you look deeper within yourself you’ll see that more than likely you are neglecting the most important things in your life..

When I made a list of my priorities or the “main things’ in my life, I began to see that I had my “main things” out of order.. This is what it looks like in my head:

1. Wife and Family: This includes spending time with the wife and kids, making memories we will have forever.

2. Work and Business - This includes my corporate life and personal business (web marketing, etc)

3. Free time and “Randy” time: Watching TV, movies, ESPN, and playing poker, games, etc..

Now, notice what order I put everything in. Family, work, fun. Now, your priorities are usually what you spend the bulk of your time on, right?? So, in my mind the family comes first, then work, then Randy time. In reality, I spend most of my time working. Then I spend the remainder during the week trying to relax and get organized for the next day.

Here is how my typical week goes:

Wake up at 7am and get to work by 8am. Work until about 6pm and leave the office. Get home and spend about 15 minutes talking with the wife about our day. We usually eat dinner in the dining room with the kids for about 30 minutes.. Then I fire the laptop back up and go back to work.

As you can see, I spend more time working than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always planning on spending more time with the wife and kids on the weekend, but I usually end up working or taking some “Randy Time”. Every once in a while I’ll sit down and talk with the wife and kids, but never as much as I intend to.

After making the list above I realized that I’m not making the “Main Thing” the main thing. I would imagine many of you are making the same mistakes too. I’ve realized by doing this that I only have a short time to correct this mistake and create a new REAL priority list for myself.

I’ve been in this rut for a while now and I know it will take a lot to break this destructive cycle I’ve created for myself, but I am committed to changing not only for myself but also for the people around me. When my life is all said and done, I really don’t want to be remembered as the guy that “worked all the time”. That’s not what I want to be about.

Now, I can make a whole list of reasons excuses about why I need to work more and that list includes: Providing for the family, working for my retirement, getting a head so I don’t have to work so much, and the list goes on and on.. In the end though, we cannot take money or status with us, we can only take the love from those around us. That’s it! Nothing else. I’m positive my wife and kids would rather have more time with me than more money from me. I would imagine your family feels the same way.

So, that’s my thought of the day. Make sure your “main thing” is the “main thing”. If you look real hard, you may find out that you have mixed your priorities up just like I have.