The Things That Matter Most

     Some things simply matter more than others. Those words have resonated with me ever since I first heard them uttered in relation to the atonement versus other gospel topics. I understand that life is short, and that I can’t do everything. I must choose who I am going to be, and just as importantly, who I am not going to be. I make that choice through how I spend my time

      Let me give some background on how I decided who I wanted to be, and how I wanted to spend my time—the things that matter most to me. From 2005 to 2007, I was a missionary in the Washington Tacoma Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There I had many experiences that I would never trade for anything, and many I would. The first councilor in our mission presidency was President Anderson, and he was big on goal setting and achievement. He used a 9 box method. Each box represented a different category in his life, and for each category he would come up with a few items to be working on. I tried this approach numerous times, but it was hard to figure out nine categories with attached goals, and to remember them so I could work on them. It seemed a little overwhelming.

     After a lot of drawing boxes, categorizing those boxes, refining those boxes, throwing the paper with the boxes away, and repeating the process, I decided I needed to simplify it a bit. I narrowed it down five things that I want my life to be defined by. For the alliterate type, I call them Farnsworth’s Five F’s. To me they represent the things that matter most—the things I want to spend my time and my efforts developing and pursuing. They are faith, family, friends, finance, and fitness.


Faith- If I had to boil my list down to the most important thing, this category would be it. My relationship with God is the single most important relationship I have. It is the most destiny-changing one. If I am faithful to God, keep the commandments, repent, and make covenants, I am promised everything God has can be mine.


Family- No success outside of the home can compensate for failure within the home. My family is my legacy. I need to teach them, to nurture them, and to love them so that we can all reach our potential and so that I can look back on my life and feel good about it. This category is forward looking, but also deals with my parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews.

Friends- When I look back on my life, I’m sure that I will define myself by the relationships I’ve had and maintained. My friends help life to be fun. They influence everything about me from how I spend my time, to what entertainment I watch, to what I think and feel and do.


Finance – In this category I lump saving, spending, and career. If you know me, you know this category is fascinating to me. I love to save and to see the power of compound interest working. I love to spend wisely. I spend a lot of my life working at my job, so I want it to be something I enjoy and that I feel is worthwhile.

Fitness- Last but not least is fitness. I believe that the quality of your life is directly impacted by your health. It is important to me to eat healthy foods, see doctors regularly, and to exercise. There is a lot of room for improvement here, but I recognize its importance.

     Faith, family, friends, finance, and fitness are all very important to me. If something takes me away from or distracts me from them, then I don’t want to think it, waste time on it, or pursue it. These are the things that will define my life—they truly are the things that matter most...