Mastering Prioritisation
Why having several priorities is the same as having no priorities
1. What is prioritisation, really?
Before any exploration of how to prioritise, even before we think of what are the benefits and challenges, we must understand what prioritisation actually means. To truly understand the meaning, we take a first principles approach. What does that mean? Strip everything back to its basics. So the key questions become:
- “What is prioritisation?” — the act of assigning priority to one thing
- “What is a priority?” — the relative importance of one thing
- “What is importance?” — anything that allows progress towards a goal
So, ultimately, our critical definition of prioritisation to keep in mind becomes the following:
Prioritisation is the act of deciding the relative importance of a thing that moves us towards a single goal.
2. Successfully managing your time and prioritising your work
Prioritising your work is not easy. It is simple, but not easy. It takes a lot of effort, up front. It takes strategic thinking. It takes the ruthless courage to say NO. And it takes the willingness to let potential opportunities pass. So, when I first started considering it, and I mean really considering it, I had to really sell myself on the benefits that awaited me on the other side.
What are the benefits?
There are more than a handful of potential benefits, but I’ve whittled it down to the 3 key ones. These are the advantages of prioritisation that I myself have experienced, as well as the ones that I have gathered from the feedback of colleagues, mentors and the most successful business books.
- Focus
Effective prioritisation brings you unmatched focus. This is achieved by a distinct clarity that arises from knowing exactly what you need to do, and when.
2. Productivity
When you no longer have to waste time, energy or effort on unimportant activities, you are able to dedicate all of this into that one area that you DO choose. This enables you to be truly effective and productive, in the truest sense of the word.
3. Momentum
Prioritsation means every action is geared towards a North Star. This means even seemingly small tasks begin to compound, and the progress you make is exponential. Your new found momentum will be enthralling and you will no longer have to struggle with the mysterious beast that is motivation.
Benefits are great. But it’s what these benefits do for you, as a whole, that really encapsulates the transformation. And that’s what true prioritisation will do; it will transform you. Your transformation will be two-pronged. If these appeal to you, then prioritisation is the strategy for you.
How it will transform you
Firstly, you will garner status as a high-value individual. It is the sign of a truly remarkable person that knows exactly what they need to focus on, and what they say no to. That latter part is the key; you are willing to say no to anything that does not align to your priority.
Secondly, you will cultivate the air of Sprezzatura. Sprezzatura has fast become one of my favourite words. It’s an Italian word that first appears in Baldassare Castiglione’s 1528 The Book of the Courtier, where it is defined by the author as “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.” Those around you will awe at your nonchalant excellence, your effortless ability to be productive and effective, seemingly while putting in less effort than everyone else.
Sprezzatura — “A certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.”
3. How do you prioritise your work?
It is worth clarifying the scale at which we are discussing prioritisation here. It is NOT about prioritising which task you will pick up next from your seemingly endless to-do list. This would be where tactics such as the Eisenhower Matrix would come into play. Instead, what we are discussing here is the larger concept. The thing that defines what tasks actually make it onto your to-do list in the first place.
Earlier, we defined prioritisation as “the act of deciding the relative importance of a thing that moves us towards a single goal.” What can we judge from this, and how does it dictate what we do, or put on our to-do list? Truth be told, this process is as simple as you allow it to be.
The North Star
Firstly, the singular form of the goal is critical. You can only have one priority. However, this is where most people slip up; they have multiple priorities. You may argue that it may occur that they do not conflict, but the truth is they can never be truly mutually exclusive. Having several priorities does NOT work. This in fact leads to what I call ‘faux prioritisation’ (more on that later). In fact, it goes against the very nature of the whole concept. When several things are a priority, nothing is a priority. Keep it at the one most important thing. Some call this their ‘North Star’.
Relative importance
The second core aspect of our definition is that we must decide the relative importance of something that moves us towards the singular priority we have just set. Again, now that you have your one North Star, this step is extremely simple. Anything and everything you do, if your aim is to be effective, should align directly to this. When faced with even the easiest of two tasks, X and Y let’s say, the key question becomes: “Does this move me towards my North Star? Does it do so more than Y?” If the first answer is no, don’t do it. End of discussion. If it’s yes, and then yes again, do X. If it’s yes and then no, do Y. That is really all there is to it.
When several things are a priority, nothing is a priority.
4. What happens if I don’t prioritise my work?
The risk of faux prioritisation
Ask 10 people and at least 9 of them will agree that prioritising your work is very important. Everyone seems to understand, at least conceptually, the impact and importance of this. Like them, it is almost guaranteed you often think about how to manage your time and workload effectively whilst facing conflicting deadlines and priorities. That statement inherently highlights the trap we all fall into. The trap of faux prioritisation, mentioned earlier. Ask that same 10 people, and yourself, about how they actually go about prioritisation and it’s unlikely you’ll get many, if at all, that don’t fall into this trap.
Fundamentally, we can’t manage our workload effectively with conflicting priorities. Going back to our original definition again, it’s all about moving towards a single goal. Inherently, that means you can’t have conflicting priorities. So this is where people go wrong and is worth me restating: having several priorities is the same as having no priorities.
So what’s the big deal?
We covered the benefits and transformations that await you on the other side, but we must now also cover the risks and costs of not prioritising effectively, carrying on as you are today.
Again, we could select dozens of risks here, but to ensure you take something tangible away from this article and are able to actually implement changes to your approach, I’ve identified the 3 key ones.
- Conflicts
This is probably the most common problem people identify and attribute to a lack of effective prioritisation. Again, having several priorities is the same as no priorities. This in effect means everything is equally important. Every task on your to-do list, every feature you could work on, every decision you could make, are all equally important. So what decides what you do next? When this happens, the decision is usually made depending on whatever mood you’re in at that moment. Or, if you work with a team/stakeholders, then the decision is made by the loudest voice in the room. We can all acknowledge this is a terribly ineffective way to go about things and will block you from doing any great, or meaningful, work.
2. Procrastination
People often find themselves struggling to deal with the problem of procrastination. However, this is just a symptom. When you lack effective prioritisation, and everything becomes equally viable and important, then you are faced with a constant stream of decisions that must be made. There’s also some basic psychological aspects at play here. The first being analysis paralysis, where you must evaluate the potential impact of every option. The second is opportunity cost, where you are constantly afraid of making the wrong decision and doing the wrong things, in fear of missing out on something better (FOMO, anyone?). All of these factors lead to feelings of stress and anxiety, and ultimately leave you either frozen or afraid to make decisions. Hence you procrastinate.
3. Do, but never achieve
Finally, you may often find yourself constantly busy. Always doing things, fulfilling requests, answering things, making decisions. Yet, it seems like you’re not getting anywhere. You are constantly doing, but never achieving anything great. This is really quite simple when you think about the bigger picture — if you don’t have full clarity on what to do next and why, you will at the very least have a massive uphill battle to make meaningful progress on your goal. Before you allow your thoughts to run away and spiral into professional existentialism, remind yourself that this can simply be solved by effective prioritisation.
5. Make the change now
You can transform yourself to become a highly valued, remarkable individual by tapping into the art of Sprezzatura’s effortless excellence. Focus on effective prioritisation and watch how everything else aligns itself and falls into place.
Pick your North Star and then only do things that align directly to that, the truly important things.
Remember, having multiple priorities is the same as having no priorities.
