Triorities
The concept of “Triorities” is learning how to balance essential priorities: God, family, and work, and in that order. This triad can lead to developing a goal-oriented and joy-filled life at every level, and it is based on the author’s experience. Rich Hatfield, a Christian businessman, outlines how Triorities is applied and shares examples from his own life. He emphasizes that all three elements (God, family, and work) must be in balance, even if it means adjusting a person’s time and focus so that church activities do not detract from quality family relationships.
Hatfield is candid about where Christianity and God fit into the balance, sharing the fact that religion had not always been part of his life. According to the author, the God-centered life shapes goals, ambitions, giving/gifts, and how self and others are treated.
Hatfield’s work background, revealed in various chapters of the book rather than in an “about the author section,” is in the grocery business, having made his way from the bottom rungs to that of the president of a national company. His insight about the workplace is frank, and a good reminder to those who are employed about why it is important to do a good job, not just work for the paycheck. Individual performance is key to a company’s success and, potentially, its survival. “Don’t let the word profit fool you. It’s not a dirty word … we all want to see a profit for our efforts.” Management’s relationship with workers is also important.
A top ingredient in his discussion about family is “to have and hold a mate.” Mates for a lifetime must be chosen well and treated well, and that again involves priorities and balance, especially when children are involved. A secret to parenting, he counsels, is to “put the kids first,” i.e., putting their needs first so that they are raised well. This means spending time with offspring, even if it means cutting back on the hours at a job or other worthwhile adult interests.
Hatfield offers sound advice in planning for the future through retirement funds, and how to make decisions wisely about spending money on what you want rather than what you need. He uses his own “lust” for bigger and better boats as an example, and how he has made decisions to buy or not and for what reasons. His approximately seventy pages of resource materials deserve reading, for they emphasize and add to his key points; his twelve pages of cutouts are unabashedly for book sales.
Triorities is personable, conversational, and motivational, and Hatfield’s suggestions are empowering. With numerous analogies to sports, the book seems to be especially well pitched toward younger male readers who may be starting their careers and marriages and in need of developing long-term and short-term goals and especially balance. For as he notes, “To truly succeed in life—as I would define success—you have to find the joy in life along the way, and figure out how to lead others to it as well.” Triorities points readers in that direction.
Reviewed by
Linda Salisbury
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
