Why prioritising is the key to success

“I have some advice for you that will change your life, if you’ll take it.” Tom Elsenbrook, my boss and the CEO of the Alvarez & Marsal’s Performance Improvement division, told me after I called him almost hyperventilating with anxiety.

“Tom, I need you to help me prioritize.” I had begun the conversation a few minutes before. “I am underserving everyone equally!”

“What’s on your list?” As I rattled off the 20+ projects on my list, he stopped me midway with a friendly chuckle, “I feel your pain.” He then told me what he thought were the top three projects to focus on. “Tell everyone else, that they have to wait.”

“Now,” he continued, “are you ready for advice that will change your life?”

Well, I may be a little hard-headed at times, but I am not totally brainless. “Of course,” I answered. “I have a pen and pad ready.”

“Spend 15 minutes at the beginning of your day, reflecting on your top three priorities. Write them down. Work through them. Don’t let yourself get distracted. Then, at the end of the day, review your list and see how you did. “ When I sat there in stunned silence, he continued, “That’s it. If you do this consistently, it will change your life.”

A few months later he asked. “How are you doing on setting priorities?”

“C+, at best,” I admitted.

Why is it so hard? Prioritization is nothing new. There are thousands of leadership, self-help, management, and even spiritual books reminding us about the importance of time management and prioritization. So why do so few of us do it well?

Stephen Covey, in 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, wrote that we should focus on important tasks – both urgent and non-urgent- in order to be successful. The strategic efforts, the efforts that really make a difference in our careers, our personal lives and the lives of others, are typically Quadrant II: the NON-urgent but important activities. However, many of us find ourselves reacting to the crises mode of Quad I and distracted by Quad III and IV activities such as answering unimportant emails, trivial tasks, and unproductive meetings. Typically, we spend less than 10% of our time in Quad II.

John Maxwell in Today Matters: 12 Daily Practices to Guarantee Tomorrow’s Success reminds us that time is our most precious commodity.

“We choose our life by how we spend our time. To change your life, you need to change your priorities.” John Maxwell
Here are the some of the roadblocks that I personally have to following this wise council:

Avoiding the Hard Stuff: The “Quadrant II” activities are often the most challenging tasks we face. Rarely are these “quick fix” issues. They include activities like long-range planning, writing a personal mission statement,building a personal brand, recognizing new opportunities and building relationships.

No immediate gratification: I thrive on the gratification that comes from getting stuff done. I want to cross tasks off my list, even if they are piddling! Many, if not most, of the activities in Quad II – the important, non-urgent activities that potentially return the biggest rewards – are activities that need to be worked over time. The reward comes from the accumulation of small, incremental improvements that are almost un-noticeable. Like trying to lose weight or climb Mt. Everest, we need to be disciplined in our daily activities, and persevere even when it feels that we haven’t made progress. If we persevere, then one day we can look back and be amazed at how much progress we have made.

Everything is important: When I look at my list, everything seems important. I want to please everyone and every task for someone else seems equally important.

Tom Elsenbrook says that when you have “clarity of purpose” then you are clear about what activities are important and you have an inner compass to measure every activity for its worth relative to your purpose. But many of us are unclear on our purpose. We may know who we care about, what it is we like to do, where some of our strengths lie…. But we haven’t been able to wrap that into a neat, personal mission statement. (Creating a personal mission statement may be a topic for another post!)

John Maxwell, in Today Matters, suggests that after you do those things that you are required to do (think Quad I), that you focus on activities that will yield the greatest reward. Personally, I think about what will impact the most people? What activity will yield the greatest reward for my company?

Where to begin? Sometimes, we know what we need to accomplish, but the path to getting there is unclear. We don’t know where to begin so we become paralyzed and unconsciously, we find ourselves doing the easy “check it off the list” task. Which brings me to another frequent distractor:

Bad Habits: What habits do we have that deter us from spending 15 minutes in the morning prioritizing? I have the habit of checking email on my phone before I roll out of bed. Within minutes of waking, I am responding to emails. But what happens? I get distracted responding to early morning emails, deleting spam emails and responding to fires. This is a bad habit that distracts me from spending 15 minutes of quiet time each morning reflecting on my priorities of the day.

Focus on today

I am NOT going to resolve to spend 15 minutes at the beginning of each day to reflect and prioritize for the remainder of my life. That just sets me up for failure and increases the likelihood that I get discouraged and revert to my bad habits! However, I WILL commit to spending 15 minutes TODAY. At the end of today, I will reflect on how I did and then see about what I can commit to for the next day. Perhaps I will start a habit that will change my life….15 minutes at a time. Perhaps, the next time Tom asks me how I am doing on my “15 minute challenge”, I can truthfully answer ‘B+’. Care to join me?

Published in collaboration with LinkedIn

Author: Carol Curry Brovelli is Senior Director of Marketing at Alvarez & Marsal.

Image: Ndeye Astou Fall, 22, works at a call centre in Senegal’s capital Dakar, June 23, 2006. REUTERS.