Here we go again. Another January. Another flood of reflection posts and resolution lists. Everyone is promising to lose weight, save money, and find happiness—the same promises we made last year and the year before.

Studies show most people abandon their goals by January 19, often called “Quitter’s Day.” Even more sobering, about 92% of adults won’t follow through on their resolutions at all.

So why do we keep doing this?

• We reflect.
• We resolve.
• We fail.
• We repeat.

I think the answer is simple: we’re listening to everyone else instead of listening to ourselves—and more importantly, instead of listening to what truly matters.

We live under what many have called the tyranny of the urgent. Emails. Notifications. Deadlines. Expectations. The urgent is loud and relentless, demanding our attention every minute of the day. Meanwhile, the important—the things that actually shape who we are and who we’re becoming—quietly get pushed aside.

You know the quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Nike captured the same idea with “Just Do It.”

Those phrases resonate because action drives change. But meaningful action requires clarity—knowing what deserves our first attention.

The order matters. When we put first things first, everything else finds its proper place.

Yet we’ve become professional consumers of advice instead of practitioners of action. We follow the next big influencer. We buy the program. We download the app. We wait for permission, validation, or the perfect plan. All while staying busy—often very busy—without moving toward what truly matters.

The truth is usually simple:

• If you want to lose weight, eat less and move more.
• If you want financial freedom, spend less than you earn and invest the difference.
• If you want to write a book, sit down and write.

Simple doesn’t mean easy. It means clear. And clarity forces us to choose what we’ll prioritize amid endless urgency.

Urgent vs. Most Important

In nursing education, the urgent often dominates: content overload, testing schedules, accreditation requirements. All of it matters—but not equally.

If our goal is to prepare nurses for practice, we must intentionally protect space for formation: clinical reasoning, professional identity, compassion, and purpose. 

Educators who teach with a clarity of priorities model for students what it looks like to practice nursing with intention, not just urgency.

What I’m learning is this: waiting for someone else to transform nursing means we’ll be waiting forever.

The change nursing needs starts with nurse educators who are willing to pause, reflect, and choose what truly matters—then act on it. Not tomorrow. Not after more experience. Now.

Instead of making resolutions, I’m inviting you to make declarations—and to anchor them in purpose.

Closing Thoughts

I’m not resolving to write a book this year. I’m declaring that I am a writer. I am an author. And I’m acting on that declaration by writing every day until August 1—my deadline for a first draft.

This book will be about practicing nursing with passion and purpose—because purpose fuels perseverance. It’s about nurses showing up each day grounded in the why that called them into this work in the first place.

The urgent will never go away. There will always be another demand, another distraction, another reason to wait.

But what matters most is worth protecting.

Declare it.
Put first things first.
Then go do it.

Recommended Resources

• ARTICLE: Tyranny of the Urgent
• BOOK: First Things First
• BOOK: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry