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Prioritize Effectively

There are a plethora of reasons that make prioritization difficult. I’ll list the common ones and provide a strategy at the end that should help you in most if not all scenarios.

Professional context

The most common cause is the lack of clear goals and strategy. This leads to secondary reasons that make prioritization difficult: task overload and information saturation. These happen because without a clear roadmap we end up doing EVERYTHING in a vain attempt to actually accomplish something.

If you find yourself struggling with any of these, talk to leadership – if goals and/or strategy are not clearly defined, ask for clarification.

If you’re in a leadership position, make it a priority to not only set clear goals but to confirm that everyone understands them. What sounds great and obvious to you, perhaps doesn’t to everyone else. Regularly check back to confirm that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal(s). If you’re unsure of what goal(s) are priority, try the exercise below.

Personal context

Our goals are often abstract (“be healthier”), emotionally charged and without clear steps. We want to “prioritize health” but don’t set specific actions, so daily decisions default to convenience. It’s critical to define clear goals. Write down exactly what you’d like to accomplish, what achievement looks like, what are the steps to get there.

Immediate rewards (tv, snacks) are more emotionally rewarding than long-term goals. This is basic investment. If you’re investing your money into something, you’re generally not expecting to be rich tomorrow. You hope for a decent return some time down the road. It may be year, it may be 10. Investing in ourselves is the same thing.

Mental load: parents for example report over 200 small decisions per day, leaving little cognitive space for strategic thinking. This is where time-blocking can be a lifesaver. You *have* to set some time aside for yourself. Think of it this way: will your kids be better off with a burnt out miserable parent or healthy, happy parent?

Both personal and professional contexts

Poor time management is a common barrier. We just don’t have the time for the important things! Try time-blocking. It’s very effective and very under-utilized.

Fear of failure. Yup, doing the important stuff can be scary…what if we fail? Better not start at all. Of course, not starting at all is the only actual failure. The other type of “failure” is not actually a failure. Why not you ask? Read this.

An exercise: The Bigger Disaster

Hopefully you’ve worked through at least some of the above issues and are ready to sit down and prioritize. If not, try the exercise anyway – it will likely help you gain clarity.