What does prioritization mean to you?

Have you ever heard this statement at work? “We need to do a better job of prioritizing.”

Maybe you have been talking to a friend outside of work. They discuss how life is coming at them so fast they are unsure of what to do and mention something about prioritization.

Change is happening at an accelerated pace. Workload and competition are increasing. We can easily get lost in competing priorities. It feels as though everything is fighting for our attention from advertisers to work to relationships.

Much of workplace burn out and mental exhaustion is due to lack of prioritization. Holding onto the belief that “I can get it all done” and squeezing in “just one more thing” keeps us in a cycle where we are running too fast to spot the vital few activities.

We end up putting too much on our plate and lose sight of our priorities.

Determining which projects are a priority can be a constant struggle in a world where everything is a priority, and everyone is feeling the pressure of time.

Always being busy is a result of lazy thinking and no prioritization. Saying no to the unimportant requests allows you to focus on what matters. But saying no requires courage and practice.

Here are three tips to help in the ongoing process of prioritization:

1. Move three things a mile rather than 100 things an inch. If you have a to-do list of ten items, ask yourself two questions:
   i.  If I had to pick two to three items, what would I choose?
   ii. How can I complete them at a deeper level where they will have a more significant impact?
   Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, talks about Ruthless Prioritization where you only focus on the very best ideas.
2. Seek the compound effect. A significant benefit from small, habitual activities is the way they build. For example, a manager who makes it a point to lead a weekly lunch and learns from his staff. At first, this may produce no visible benefit or even be seen as a waste of time, but over time the team will see the correlation between consistent personal development and an increase in team performance.
3. Don’t fill time with more trivial activities. Use free time for rejuvenation. When you start to prioritize you will begin to see an increase in your available time. It is tempting to fill that time up with other activities thus leading you right back to where you started. Instead, use that time to give your brain a break. Go for a walk, read a book, or do something that will relax the mind so that it enables you to prioritize at a high level.

The busier we become, the less effectively we prioritize.

So, what does prioritization look like for you?

Post your comments on the blog.

by Eric Papp
Time Management Speaker