I think about systems a lot for work, so it’s comical when I find myself obliviously operating within my own broken one. It’s not right for any of us to think of ourselves as having any one single job. We exist at the nexus of many demands and responsibilities, often in acute conflict with one another. In the times when the pressure builds, and time runs short, we have to make executive decisions. Why is it that we always sequence our tasks incorrectly?

The truth is, it’s easier to cut my breakfast out of the schedule than it is to cancel the kids’. I have full autonomy to limit my work hours for the day, I have less running room when it comes to the school agenda. I can sacrifice my walking time in exchange for an hour more of sleep. But while I can do any or all of those things, I really shouldn’t.

Our energy is finite and needs to be managed, along with everything else. If I plan to make breakfast for the children and then my own, I risk exhausting my energy and schedule before it comes time to take care of myself. In the proper order, if I make my breakfast first, I’ll have the energy I need to make the children’s breakfast, and more. How I stumbled into getting that backwards remains a mystery to me.

Doing each thing in its proper order is about more than checking things off of a list. This is especially true if it’s a thinking-system, one that you designed with intention and purpose. I wake up early because it is true that it is the only block of time in my entire day that can be truly my own. But I also wake up early, and walk, because it gives me the energy and focus I need to carry through my day. I eat breakfast not because a commercial suggested it, but because food is the fuel that keeps my body engaged. The same goes for the other things on my list.

I would never neglect my tools the way that I have neglected my body. My body is the physical form that enables me to take care of my children, to serve my clients, and to accomplish the purpose for which I was made. Letting it grind down into inertia is a broken system underpinned by thin logic.

Doing things in the right way ensures that I am prepared, and capable, to manage the priorities and responsibilities of my day. It is a strong logic that ensures that when the moment arrives, I am ready.e