The Power of Prioritization
Task tedium.
This is what I call my daily battle with a seemingly insurmountable list of tasks. I feel it captures the state in which I constantly find myself. Facing a pile of to-dos that only grows and never seems to shrink.
And it truly is a battle. How to manage them, how to organize them, and (most difficult) how to prioritize them.
From the strategic and complex to the tactical and mundane. My list has them all. Much like naming things in software engineering is hard, I feel that task management is one of those hard things in life.
Task management is the subject of much debate, pontification, and prescriptive writing. Every time I see the clickbait phrase “task management” in a newsletter or publication, I’m hooked. I recognize it as something I struggle with, so I read as much as I can about it in order to improve.
There are also a lot of things on my task list that are important. In fact, I would argue that most of them are important, otherwise I would never have included them. This is why it’s critical to prioritize, so that the truly most important things can get done first.
The one thing I often find missing from the advice I read is on the prioritization aspect of task management. It makes sense if you think about it. An outsider can’t really offer advice on how to prioritize, because much of the determination for doing so is based on context they simply don’t have. It makes sense, then, that prioritization is the part I struggle with most.
Light Bulb.
I recently had a conversation with a colleague whom I greatly respect and enjoy working with. The subject matter of that conversation was a difficult one where we were trying to figure out how to handle multiple, important tasks that were competing for our time and attention. As we were talking, I received a missive from someone else who had an “urgent” request. I think I even said it out loud, “You’ve got to be kidding!”.
In the heat of that moment, my colleague said something that made us both pause:
“Hang on — the person who made this request does not get to determine our priorities.”
Yes!
At that moment everything changed. The point he was making is that our priorities had already been pre-determined based on goals that were set outside the context of this particular request. That meant the requestor could not (or should not) be allowed to alter our current focus or direction. They come second. Or third. Or later.
“That which defines also divides.” — Scott Wilder of Texas
The power of saying no.
By defining our priorities, we are not only saying one thing is a priority — we’re also saying some other thing is not a priority, at least not immediately.
Essentially, prioritizing gives us the power say no.
Prioritizing also tells us when we can say no. Or at least, when we can say, “not right now, but maybe later”. That doesn’t mean a given item is not important. It simply means I can only accomplish one thing in this moment, and that thing will not be what you want it to be.
Saying no is quite liberating. The amount of stress that is relieved when you say no is significant. In that moment with my colleague, we were able to completely defuse the most stressing thing on our list by simply saying no.
Saying no also sets expectations that there are boundaries around my time. Without boundaries, there’s no way to guarantee any task gets the attention it deserves, and therefore there’s no way to guarantee any task will ever be completed.
The next time you find yourself inundated with important tasks, it’s critical to step back and do whatever you have to in order to prioritize them. Many times there is no right answer. Sometimes the answer may just be to pick one and go with it. Time will tell if you‘ve chosen wisely, but at least you’ll be making forward progress. With priorities defined, you are now equipped for success against the mountain of tasks facing you. You are empowered to stay focused because you know what’s most important right now. When a competing priority tries to interrupt, you have the power to say no.
Do you find this article helpful? If so, please clap or leave me a comment below!
