Priorities

If you haven't noticed... I've been absent lately.

I have been so busy with life that I never seem to get to the part where I sit down and write it all down. A quick lesson I've learned that I wanted to share with everyone.

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Last week was the Abilene Fire Control Conference. I was asked to teach a class called Rapid Intervention Team (RIT). For those in fire service, here is a great resource for you to learn how to create a great RIT program in the context of your organization. Either way, I did a lot of research leading up to this class because it has been a long time since I've taken RIT and I wanted to be up to date on latest best practices and national standards. The class went okay, but one part of the class reminded me about life and how sometimes we never seem to get to the bottom of our to-do lists.

For those who are unaware of RIT, it is the national standard and practice which states you should always have firefighters outside on a dedicated firefighter rescue team if firefighters are in a dangerous environment (such as inside a house fire). Those firefighters are asked to do nothing except be prepared in case a MAYDAY is called out by firefighters inside.

During this class, I decided to give students a checklist for them to use on their own fire scenes. Those checklists were not intended to be an exact template, but something they could use to develop their own checklists for what to do in the case of a MAYDAY call and request of a RIT team activation. The purpose of this checklist was simply to show that there is a lot to be done if a RIT team is activated and that they should make sure everything is done "by the book" to prevent overlooking important, yet minute tasks in the heat of the moment.

When I think about my daily life, I realize that I sort of need a checklist to work from too. I have priorities within my fire department, my career, my family, my faith... all of which are varying degrees of importance, but all must be completed. I have gotten in the practice of writing a to-do list every day to make sure I live up to the requests of my customers, fellow firemen, family, and Lord. I try my hardest not to see it as some legalistic rule of law, but rather a guideline to help me remain organized and follow priorities.

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What do you do to keep organized?

What signs do you see that remind you that you're getting off target and losing sight of priorities?