What Do I Do Next?
Prioritization is Stressful | Prioritization is a Symptom.
The ultimate question used to be “Why am I here?”
Now it is, “What do I do next?”
And it’s not because we’ve answered the original question, it’s because we’re so distracted and overloaded we no longer even care.
This is not good.
What you Think it Means
The cry for prioritization comes in many forms:
Just tell me what to do!
Which of these is most important to you?
I thought it was a good idea at the time!
In the end, they are all looking for the same thing: clarity of action.
Can I be certain that I what I do next will yield good results and not get me into trouble?
We worry about doing the wrong thing, wasting time, failure. We worry about these more than ever because we have more options than ever. We could be doing almost any action right now. Everything has a very high opportunity cost.
Putting together our class on personal prioritization was an eye opener for me personally. There are so many layers of pain laid upon us. Too much work. Ill defined work. Unfinishable work. Work with unknown value. Work that requires the help of people who are incentivized not to help.
Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time
And we want to do the right thing, but we are overloaded with demands. Some we can meet, many we cannot. But we’re expected to complete those demands by other people who are also distracted, overloaded, and frustrated.
Prioritization suddenly becomes more than just stack ranking or declaring something the most important.
Prioritization is understanding what you could be doing, why it is important, who it benefits, and what a good job looks like. Then you have to weigh all those demands and see how they fit together. See their context.
And truly understand how and when to do the right thing.
That is prioritization. Anything less is just CYA.
Check out the prioritization class here. It has methods that can help you see that context.
Just released: New online class on prioritizing your work. What Do I Do Next?
About Jim
Jim Benson is the creator and co-author (with Tonianne DeMaria) of the best seller: Personal Kanban. His other books include Why Limit WIP, Why Plans Fail, and Beyond Agile. He is a winner of the Shingo Award for Excellence in Lean Thinking and the Brickell Key Award. He and Tonianne teach online at Modus Institute and consult regularly, helping clients in all verticals create working systems. He regularly keynotes conferences, focusing on making work rewarding and humane.
