FIRST THINGS FIRST 

Greetings and peace good folks. I hope that I find you well. I’ve been doing a bit of travelling lately. In fact, I crossed three continents in about two weeks, supped with kings in London, well, sort of, and traversed Joburg, Egoli the city of gold for a few days in the Motherland. 

And as happens with me when I travel, besides having plenty of fun, I got time to reflect on things. I got to think, something that I believe the world does less of these days. And you know, when you are up there above the clouds and the plane hits some turbulence, you begin to surmise on the importance of prioritisation in life. 

To succeed in life, you have to figure out how to prioritise, to put first things first, to keep the main thing the main thing. Of course that is easier said than done so I am not claiming to be some guru on this but am just an everyday guy sharing with you what works for me. If you want some guru’s take, you can find plenty of those on social media. 

My take is this. First of all you definitely have to find time for the Sovereign above. I am talking here about the Creator. I know this is hard to believe for some you when you consider some of the content that I post. But the reality is I do find time to connect spiritually because I believe humans are inadequate without connecting to God. 

Second on the list must be family and true friends. This group here is crucial to one’s mental health. If you are blessed with a really supportive family and genuine group of friends they can help you get through some things especially when life rubs you in some tough places. They tell you the sweet things, mostly what you want to hear but when you mess up they usually have the courage to straighten you up too. With tough love of course. But it all stays in the family. Outside of God, these folks must stay at the top of your pyramid. 

Number three for me is work. By that I mean whatever puts bread and possibly some bacon on your table. Success in this department requires discipline whether you have a boss or you are your own boss. Post Covid, a lot of us work from home and the temptation here is that you can take work for granted especially when there is less human supervision.

It would be amiss of me if I don’t talk about eating and exercise. If you live in the US like I do, a quick research will tell you that the biggest killer of folk is not guns but heart disease. This stems mostly from what we eat and the amount of physical exercise we don’t put in after we consume food. It is therefore paramount to ensure that you try as much as possible to eat good food, go organic if you can and go easy on sugar, too much processed food and sodas. It’s time to get rid of the name is Jimmy I will take all that you can gimme mentality. Make time for exercise, it will save your life. 

Last but not least, prioritize your mental health. In this age of social media, AI and whay I will call information overload you better watch what you allow to get into your head. Everybody is an expert these days and frankly the information you get is confusing. So be very particular about what you consume and be wary of click baits that are all over social media these days. Remember the old adage that too much of anything is not good.  Unless your livelihood comes from that environment, I would urge you to cut your social media intake. 

Let me add, for free that, if your mind works like mine, it’s crucial to find a quiet time and place to reflect and think. Everything around us is in a rush these days and if you are not careful your life will pass you by before you have time to cry uncle. So no matter how busy you are find some alone time to just relax and unwind. And while you are at it get time to assess whether the relationships and associations you have around you are really worthwhile and contributing to your growth and mental well-being. If they are not, cut them off. Life is too short to spend it being everybody’s fool. 

When all is said and done, what matters is that, did you spend your time here doing the right things, building the most fruitful relationships, helping others and fulfilling your purpose. If you accept that this is probably my third attempt at a conclusion then allow me to add here that you must also prioritize helping others. Because at the end of the day, it matters that you were able to make somebody halfway across the globe smile, helped folks whom you will never meet and be the rainbow to end someone’s stormy night.

Maybe just maybe, you will leave this wretched planet better than you found it. All because you understood the importance of prioritization. This is my small and humble contribution to the betterment of humanity. If one person is helped I will sleep well tonight.

I hola.

The writer, Bevan Makaka is an IT specialist based in the US. He is also a prominent businessman, prolific philanthropist and trailblazing music promoter. He can be contacted on: Info@xceleratetechconsulting.com