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Vox Pop: What we talk about when we talk about "priority"
Merlin Mann | Feb 12 2007
Since the Bronze Age of personal productivity, conventional wisdom has taught us the importance of priority in deciding how to plan and use our time. And, in the abstract, anyhow, that notion of putting your time and attention into those things that are the most valuable to you seems so “obvious” as to be a tautology, where “productivity = acting on priorities.” (Of course, whether people’s execution of the things they claim are important always maps to their stated intentions is another matter for But, we can probably agree that in the post-Lakein world of productivity and time management, everything from Covey’s Quadrants to the Pareto Principle to the four criteria to – what? I dunno – firewalking, has been used to help us train our attention on the things that need us most and provide the greatest value in our world. Priority. But, in practice, what the hell does “priority” really mean? I come at this from the angle of a GTD fan, in the sense that I try (try, mind you) to see priority as one of several factors that govern where my time can and should go. But, it’s no secret that even the most diehard GTD fan struggles with how to execute a busy day during which this and this and this and, oh crap, **that** all need to be done as soon as possible. How do you manage it all? Well, one way is to apply some of the many affordances that various productivity tools offer: priority stuff is big, and it’s red, and it’s bold, it’s at the very top of the list, and it’s stuck on a sticky note in the middle of the monitor; anything to make sure we don’t lose our most important work in the lights. So my question to you guys: what does “priority” really mean to you in practice (not theory)? Does it represent the highest value item in your world – that for which you will reject other work? Is it the thing that’s currently causing the most stress and anxiety? Or is it the thing that you’re the most behind on and are therefore the most horribly embarrassed about? What makes you set an item’s priority to the “high” setting, and then how does that help it to get done faster? Does priority planning ever fail you? I’ve got my own theories, but I want to hear what you guys think in comments. (And, of course, my apologies to the late Raymond Carver.) 40 Comments
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 I find prioritization inescapable in...Submitted by Matt (not verified) on February 12, 2007 - 12:46pm.
I find prioritization inescapable in implementing a GTD system. The beauty of GTD is not that it does away with priorities altogether, but rather than it encourages flexible, on-the-fly prioritization. Priorities are things that I have to do right now–they’re the things that are causing me the most psychic stress, the things that will have the biggest emotional, material, and psychological payoff when they’re completed. The way I manage priorities is with index cards. Every incoming item goes on a new index card. I use the two minute rule to decide whether to send the index card to my stack of actions/projects. The stack itself is a representation of my entire world–usually sorted by context. A couple times during the day, I go through the entire stack, pulling out the highest priority items. Reviewing all my “stuff” helps give me a sense of control. Being able to pull out particular actions/projects allows me to focus in on the most important stuff. That’s how I handle priorities. The biggest challenge re: priorities. How to stay on top of crucial, but less important stuff, when I’m in the middle of a do-or-die project. Because I know that all of that other stuff will soon become a crisis if I don’t stay on top of it. » POSTED IN:
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