When I first moved to Columbus, training was my no. 1 priority. Everything revolved around what time I was going to train. I arranged my work schedule, my social life and my girlfriend(s) fit in where they could.
I think that anyone reading this site has training in their top 5 priorities. But looking back at when it was no. 1 is kind of strange to me. I quit collegiate strength and conditioning, moved to a different state, slept on a coach and drove escorts around to make ends meat. There are so many great stories from all those things but I never even thought of it as strange, it was just what I had to do be the best powerlifter in the world.
I gave it everything I had and got so close to being the best, but then I had an injury. My intent was to get back to a place where powerlifting was no. 1, but that never happened. I had a kid, started a business, had another kid, got married and on and on. So intent is great but unless you are really willing to put it and keep it in the top priority slot, it won't happen.
Dave has spoken a lot about blast and dust. I think that every successful person is this way. People who talk about balance are 1. Full of shit and 2. have already made it so they can afford not to put everything into making something successful. or 3. have a big ass trust fund and money isn't an issue.
At this point in my life, my business is my no. 1 priority. I have 3 kids to support and beyond that I am responsible for the jobs of 10 employees. If I don't keep my eye on the ball, not only will I not have food on my table, but I take food off of 10 people's tables, who I all consider family.
Training is probably no 3 at this point. I try to get home to spend time with my family and sometimes that means cutting my training session a little shorter than I want. When training was no. 1, it was nothing to have a 3 or 4 hour session. Take a nap and basically have 6hrs of my day gone for training and recovery. Now, if I did that my business and family would fall apart.
Family is no 2., but if you asked my wife she would probably tell you it's a tie between training and family. I honestly probably spend more time training per week than I do with my family, but if push comes to shove and my daughter asks me to be at something, I would drop everything else to do it. So family is no. 2. It's funny, my intent is to have family no. 2, but I struggle to keep it above training. I didn't grow up with a solid family life. I cooked every meal I ate after I was in 7th grade. I made it on my own and don't have that desire to "be home for dinner". I know it's important but it's a struggle.
The funny thing is that my business has been no. 1 since I opened it. But when it was new I spent 100% of my time on it. There was no time to train, no family time and forget about leisure time. I was full blast on business. Now that The Spot Athletics is more established and I have a great staff, I have time to train, time for my family and actually get some leisure time. The thing is, I never had the intent to spend 100% of my time on my business. But what I've realized is that for people like me, when you start something and you want it to be the best. No matter what your intent, that no. 1 priority will get all your time and trump anything else in life.
I know that this is great for the thing you are putting all your time into and bad for everything else. So when you look at your priorities think about where things rank and where your intent is for them to rank. My goal is to spend more time training, more time with my family and have a very successful business. But I realize that to get to that place is going to take a lot of time and won't happen on it's own. To me, if you want your priorities to line up with your intent, it's a matter of being successful with no. 1 priority and then you can spend more time on 2 & 3. Maybe this isn't the best way to think about things but it's worked pretty well for me so far so I'm gonna stay with it.