I have started to realize recently that my priorities have changed quite a bit. How I spend my time has changed as I have gotten older (I am about to be 30…).

The things I care about have changed over the past year, five years (since I got married), eight years (since I started SOS Leadership), and so on.

Here are 8 ways my priorities have changed:

• I only watching liked two total hours of the NFL Draft this year. I used to watch the entire thing. I would create my own draft board where I’d rate players. I’d create my own first round mock draft for the entire league and a full seven round mock for the Eagles. I even used to watch tape on players. Not so much anymore. I still love the sport. I just don’t live and breathe it (at least in the off-season).
• I used to play fantasy baseball and I loved it. Now I cannot find the time. It is not that I have less time, I just care less about this now.
• I don’t have cable TV in my home. I never thought I could go without it, but it hasn’t bothered me at all. I still keep up with certain shows on Netflix, but I really don’t watch anything religiously.
• I no longer stay out to all hours of the night. I go to be by 10:30 every night because I like to get up early to start my day.
• I see way less movies in the theater than I used to. When I was younger I went to a movie almost every week it seemed.
• I am not the same friend I used to be. I have different relationships now. Some people from my past don’t fit my life now and some people now won’t fit in my future. I value all of my relationships both new and old, but they are not all the same that they used to be and I am okay with that.
• My family is still very important to me, but those relationships have changed. My wife is the most important and our parents are next for us. As we have gotten older and grown together we continue to realize the gift that our parents are to us. They are the best leaders we know and they are our best friends.
• I try hard to involve my wife in most everything that I do (and she does the same). She is my number one priority (not me!) and I don’t want to be committed to a bunch of things that keep me away from her.

As we grow and change as people, leaders, spouses, family members, and friends, so do our priorities. This can be difficult because as things change sometimes people get left behind. Some people do not understand change. They want things to always remain the same. They want you to be the same person you used to be. Maybe they even resent the fact that you are different.

Staying the same is not possible. Things will change. We will change because we will always grow. As leaders we must be open to growth and change in our lives and in others. It is not just about us.

How have your priorities changed? What matters most to you right now? What relationship has changed that perhaps you would like to work to make better?

Remember that life is change. Don’t let change happen without you.

And finally I leave you with one of my favorite affirmations that is appropriate for the subject of this post. It is the mindset that I try to have:

“I am not where I want to be. I am not where I am going to be. But thank God I am not where I was.”