A time management guru from the Harvard Business School observed that most of us spend too much time on the C priorities of life to the detriment of the A and B priorities. ‘The reason,’ he said, ‘is because they are much easier to accomplish and fool us into feeling we are doing something worthwhile.’ The secret of all successful lives is knowing what really matters and not being distracted by lesser things that make us feel good because we’re doing something.
It reminds me of an old country recipe for rabbit stew that starts by saying: “First catch the rabbit.” We put the things that should be in first place in their proper order. Otherwise we could end up like that old prospector from the American West, whose inscription said: “I lost my gun. I lost my horse. I am out of food. The Indians are after me. But I’ve got all the gold I can carry!”