Creating your Essentials List

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all having a fabulous day. I’m here with my latest tip for making your dash count. So far in this series we’ve covered knowing your why, the gift of being present and most recently about creating boundaries. Today I want to talk about something that is very near and dear to my heart. I really think this makes a huge difference in life. I want to talk about creating an essentials list.

The essentials list

What is an essentials list? Many of us don’t have one, so what do I mean by essentials? Let’s say for instance, because I value family and life and work-life balance, those are my essentials. Those are the things that cannot be compromised. When you create your own essentials list, you have to make that list non-negotiable. For example, if I had plans with my daughter to go to the movies, and my friend called me and said “hey, there’s something cool happening, and we should go!”. My answer should always be no. That’s because Chelsea is on my essentials list.

Priorities

Another good example is for spouses, significant others, husbands, wives, whatever term you use. You have to have that boundary, especially if you’re in the corporate world or if you run your own business. I’m a business woman too, and it is so easy to get really busy and forget the important people in our lives. If I arrange a dinner with my significant other and I’m supposed to be there at 7pm; if you want to book me for a coaching call at 7pm, the answer should be no. Once you’ve created that essentials list, you will be sure of what you want to do every time and you will continue to do so.

Knowing what’s important

So, that essentials list should be protected, and it’s so important for us to remember that. In our business and our personal life, at times we forget to protect the essential things in our lives. So I want to remind you to make an essentials list, whatever that list looks like for you. I want to give you another example. When I was in Kenya, I was very clear on what my purpose of going to Kenya was. I went to visit my dad and my siblings. There were so many business opportunities that came up, and I had to say no to them. That’s because I had already decided in my mind what was important, what was essential for me and my trip. So I’m telling you today to write down the essentials in your life. Once you write them down, make sure they’re non-negotiable. Don’t let anything just blow you here and there, away from your essentials.

One more quick example that I really like to use is my daughter. We are Seventh Day Adventist. We go to church on Saturdays. Many of her friends of course have birthday parties and getaways on Saturdays. My answer is always no. I love her friends and I would love for her to socialize with them, but to us, going to fellowship and church every Saturday is an essential. So our friends know if we have to go, the birthday party will have to be in the evening or on a Sunday.

That’s my latest tip. Make your essentials list, make it non-negotiable. After that, everything else will fall into place. At the end of the day, what’s most important to you? Your family, your friends. Make that list, and use it.

Learning More

This is Carolyne Onkoba with making your Dash count. What does making your Dash count mean? Some of you might not be very familiar with that. Making your Dash count simply means – what is it that you’re doing right now that is going to make an impact when you’re not here? What is your legacy? Your dash is the time from when you are born to when you’re no longer here. So, how do you live daily so that you can make that gap, that Dash, count? Creating your own essentials list and making these non-negotiable is a key part of that. I would love to help you either in your home life or your business – why don’t you book in for a FREE consultation & we can see if we are a good fit? Click here to book your consultation now. I post lots of inspirational videos and tips on my Facebook page too, so be sure to follow it today to learn more about making your dash count.

Carolyne Onkoba is a highly successful registered nurse, bestselling author, and an internationally recognized business and life coach. She has learned to focus on living for what’s important in life. Her initial success came at a high personal cost: broken family and missing out on her daughter’s events and milestones. Now, she helps people who are feeling unbalanced and unfulfilled in their life to get clarity, become more efficient and more productive. This way, they can make their Dash count by spending more quality time with their loved ones and live with purpose.