Priorities Make Your Life Meaningful

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

The other day I came across a quote that Elon Musk said that struck me. He said “Most people will panic to find a charger before their phone dies. But won’t panic to find a plan before their dream dies.” That's a strong quote about our priorities as a society.

This quote got me thinking. Surely our dreams are more important than our phones? Right? Why are our phones distracting us so much to the point where we think that they are more important than our hopes and dreams? How can we solve this growing problem?

Setting priorities for ourselves is a crucial tool to live a fulfilling life. Priorities help us determine what actions we need to take to work toward our goals. They help us find out what we need to do today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, etc. to reach our goals.

Priorities are simply the things that are the most important to us. They give us purpose and meaning not only to our lives but to our daily actions and routines.

Priorities are the guiding ship for how to live our lives. Setting the right priorities guides us towards accomplishing our goals and living life on our terms.

Elon makes a great observation about the state of society. Most people lack priorities. Most people are so addicted to their smartphones (and other electronic devices). It’s not their fault. Over the years our phones have become increasingly more useful for our daily lives.

People are so addicted to their phones that it clouds their ability to determine what truly matters to them. They are so attached to their phones that they lose sight of the important things in their lives. They lose sight of the things that give their lives meaning.

The example that Elon highlights of people prioritizing their phones instead of their dream life is just one of many examples of people setting the wrong priority. 

This is a trap that all too many people fall into. In most cases, it’s because they don’t set priorities at all. In this case, the person’s priorities become things that they are addicted to, such as using their smartphone too much. This is an unfulfilling life to live. 

While smartphones are incredibly useful, using them should not be among our top priorities. Our priorities should be things that are meaningful to us or things that add value to our lives in some way. 

Our priorities should be our relationships, career goals, fitness goals, and so on. These things give our lives meaning. Relationships help us feel connected with others. Goals give us things to aspire to. They give us a journey to go on, an adventure to experience.

When we lack the purpose behind our daily actions, our days feel meaningless. Without having priorities, we feel lost and without direction in our lives. This feeling is prevalent among lots of people today. It’s only rising due to the endless number of distractions our phones provide us with. There is always a new app to download, a new social media post, a new video to watch, and so on.

This feeling of being lost can be remedied by identifying the important things in our lives and then taking actions that align with what is truly important to us.

Setting the right priorities helps us live meaningful, productive, and happy lives.