Life is never static. You have a list of your priorities right now, complete with action steps, and you know what you need to focus on and where to put your energy. Today. What happens if you get laid off tomorrow? Or offered a promotion? Or some other new opportunity or conflict comes up?
These things are inevitable. The more time passes after you finish making your plan, the more likely it is that something like this will come up. So, what do you do when this happens? How do you handle it?
Decisions like this are never easy, but they are much easier when you have your priorities in order and know what is most important to you and what you need to focus on. Why? Because you are going to compare the conflict or new opportunity with your priorities and see how they align.
The great advantage of knowing what your priorities are is that you can make decisions with a clean conscience. You do not need to dither over whether something is worth it, or if you should do it anyway. You know where to put your time and energy to reach your goals. That makes all the difference in the world with decisions such as this.
Look at the new opportunity. Is it in alignment with your priorities? Will it take you closer to your goals? It might. It could even help you reach them faster. If it does, go for it immediately. If it does not, turn it down.
Conflicts are usually easier. If something conflicts with one of your goals, you know right away that you need to drop the conflicting item. If it causes a conflict between your goals, however, you may need to sit down and decide which is more important to you before deciding which path to take.
Either way, you will have a framework on which to base your decision and will not have to blindly try to decide if you should shift your focus or work something new into your schedule.
What do you do on those rare occasions when a conflict arises because you have a new opportunity, it is something you did not know you wanted until it came up, but it conflicts with your other priorities? In that case, you are going to have to take some time to sit down and rethink your priorities and decide which one you most want.