Setting Priorities to Clear Roadblocks

Getting out of the way so things can get done…

I’m glad I wrote the title of this post down this morning, since I had already forgotten it by the time I sat down to write this afternoon. To me, that’s a great, direct, and simple example of how the demands and distractions of the day can make it so easy to get thrown off course as the day progresses. I set goals each day, in a simple list, to help me regain that focus once the day starts moving. I’ve found that a simple list, that holds only the three things I need to get done that day, works best for me. As the day progresses and I finish a task, or get pulled off course by an unexpected distraction, coming back to my simple list points me back in the right direction.

The key for me to making the list work is putting the three highest priority items for the day in that list. I do this early in the day and make it the first thing I do when I sit down at my computer, or at least as close to the first thing as I can that day. This prioritization exercise takes a great deal of focus and a pretty intense level of mental energy. Doing it before the distractions start coming fast and furious increases my chances of getting the priorities right for the day.

That’s not to say that the priorities can’t or shouldn’t be adjusted due to shifting priorities throughout the day. However, in my experience, the less that is necessary, the better, and having to consider reprioritizing when something seemingly urgent hits helps me to take a step back and truly assess the urgency of the new request, rather than just jump to it in a knee-jerk reactive way. Most of the time the reassessment exercise demonstrates to me that reprioritization isn’t necessary after all and helps me avoid getting pulled into a whirlwind of extraneous activity that prevents me from focusing on the 3 priorities I set out to accomplish that day.

I’m starting to realize more and more that one factor gaining more and more importance as I weigh priorities is removing roadblocks. A roadblock to me is something that I need to do that is preventing someone else from doing what they need to do, which results in stalled progress. I feel an intense level of pressure that builds very quickly when I know that all I need to do is get one thing done, which will then allow someone or a group of people to continue doing what they need to do, in order to move closer to a goal.

This pressure, as simple as it sounds, feels like a dam holding back a torrent of water, so maybe it’s more like a logjam rather than roadblock, but anyway… ☺ There’s something very powerful to me about freeing and enabling a group of well qualified people that I trust to help meet goals collectively and knowing that things are getting done, even if I may not currently be pushing that activity forward myself. I guess people who have difficulty delegating may not feel the same way. At the same time, I do appreciate the style of manager who sees their job as removing roadblocks, so the people that work with them are able to be successful at doing what they’re asked to do. I know that at least for me, setting my priorities by selecting the areas where I’m currently holding back the most progress, especially when it is progress that others can be making once I clear that roadblock, seems to work pretty well.