Sometimes it feels harsh when we have to #prioritize. The emotions range from disappointment that we cannot follow all our ideas to the fear of missing a goal or making the wrong choice when we provide our team with the wrong #priority.
Some leaders are faced with anger and drama when they prioritize the work for their #team. Some feel guilty for providing the clarity of #direction the team needs in order to achieve a goal.
The worst thing you can do is to not prioritize.
For an individual, not prioritizing looks like this: You follow one thought, get distracted, jump to the next, start into action on idea one, hesitate in the middle and jump to the next, feeling it would be the better course of action. If you have ever practiced meditation, you will recognize the pattern.
You lose the brain muscle required to #focus on something long enough to actually complete it, and you mess with your feelings of satisfaction and fulfillment. You cannot get things done without focus. If you have any ambition to achieve an outcome and see the result of our efforts, having a lot of unfinished business will leave you frustrated.
The same applies to a #team when priorities aren’t clear or change frequently.
Tasks are started, interrupted and being paused, taken up after some time, dropped for a more urgent priority, then restarted again when their time has come. Each of these new starts takes extra effort and energy, and unless the principles of priority setting and changes are very clear and explicit, the team will soon get distracted, confused, and dissatisfied. Individual tasks might be finished, but no real progress is made.
That is why focus and team alignment around a set of priorities is so important.
The next time someone asks you about the priority of a task, give them a guilt-free answer. Make your reasoning explicit so they can understand how and why you prioritize that way.
Take it from a multi-passionate creative: Prioritization is an act of love.
I have to exercise a lot of discipline and a number of organizational methods and tools to keep myself focused. And sometimes I break out and just allow myself to play with all the wonderful options. I’ve learned a lot about my process for prioritization and focus. If you want to find out more about yours, comment down below or send me a message.
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