Beware Rapidly Changing Priorities (aka Black Friday)

You, yes, you, always need a budget, but I find it especially important on Black Friday.

Whether or not you partake in the madness that is Black Friday, I hope you’ll think about the real danger behind the frenzy: your rapidly changing priorities.

Is that fill-in-the-blank-thing already part of your priorities? And we are talking the priorities you had before you saw the Black Friday ads—your true priorities.

Because the priorities are the road map, you have the big picture—these priorities that you’ve already thought about and committed your money toward. To alter those priorities in a moment? Well, it’s suspect.

You declare, “These are my priorities. They represent me and the things that are most important to me—my true values,” until, whoops, I found some new ones. I’m bothered by the fact that priorities can change so quietly, and just kind of sneak up on you.

Not to say they can never change—of course, they can. And they should over time. Just usually more time than it takes to drive to Target or Best Buy.

Maybe you have an experience that causes you to rethink your priorities. Or a different environment makes you reconsider what is most important to you. Or you are persuaded by a friend or family member or Black Friday.

Our priorities can become a very malleable thing, a figure-it-out-as-you-go kind of thing, and it doesn’t work.

Your priorities should be set in stone, before an event or a person or great marketing, persuades you otherwise.

Think about what your priorities looked like five years ago? Ten years ago? How have they changed? If I look back ten years my priorities were wildly different. They have changed. It isn’t bad or good, but it is different.

It’s important to be aware of the things that are causing our priorities to change and making sure the change is intentional. This evaluation will allow you to bring a little bit more awareness to the process of setting up (and sticking to) your priorities. And awareness is always a good thing.

So, be careful out there! Don’t go crazy. Keep those true priorities front and center and your January budget will thank you!

If you can’t wait until next week for more whiteboard wisdom, you can view the entire library here. If you have a question or an idea you’d like us to address in a future Whiteboard Wednesday episode – we’d love to hear from you! Email us at email@youneedabudget.com.

Until next time…