“Absolute priorities stand the test of time.”
We often enter a new year, a new quarter or a new job with a list of things we’re going to do to make ourselves better, happier and healthier. If we’re not careful, though, that list can grow pretty long.
When you have a dozen or more things staring back at you, it can be difficult to know where to start — or how to start. In fact, a lot of people get stuck and just give up, not seeing a way to move forward that will end in success.
What’s the solution? Prioritize your priorities. By focusing on your absolute priorities, you will be able to direct effort toward the aspirations that move the needle toward what’s most important. Here’s how I recommend going about it.
Identify What’s Important
Identify all the things that matter to you. Not just now, this moment. Think bigger. Consider a lifetime of possibilities. Perhaps some combination of career, wealth, health, family, friends, love, faith, self-enrichment, philanthropy, travel, culture and education.
Know Your Mission
Most successful companies have mission statements — a core sentence that describes who they are and their purpose.
We need mission statements, too.
What do you stand for? What’s important to you? What legacy will you leave? Where do you plug in? These important questions get to the heart of your mission statement.
Your personal mission statement captures your life’s purpose and personal values, creating a long-term vision. It transcends any one goal or situation. It serves as your compass and helps you make optimal decisions.
Create a Hierarchy
Every day we constantly confront choices large and small. Some decisions we make consciously, others we make instinctually. Often we do not make a decision at all, we just go with the flow. The problem with going with the flow is sometimes you end up where you don’t want to go, and sometimes you go nowhere at all.
That’s why we need a filter, or hierarchy, to quickly and easily help us make the best choices that move us in a positive direction, every day. We need to determine relative importance.
My approach involves classifying priorities into four categories:
• Non-negotiable.
• Important now.
• Important later.
• Nice-to-have.
For example, if your mission statement includes being charitable, then one of your priorities should be to support deserving organizations you care about. If you’ve vowed on New Year’s to run a marathon but fitness isn’t really a top priority right now, then make peace with not tackling a marathon right now and revisit that goal later, when fitness ranks as a higher priority.
This technique works for me because there’s a time element baked into the prioritization. As time evolves, the relative importance of priorities also evolves, up or down, in the ranking. However, it is improbable that the relative importance of your non-negotiable priorities will change. That is why they are non-negotiable. Priorities for the next year may look different from priorities for the next five years. But the non-negotiable should remain constant.
If you’re struggling to rank priorities, ask yourself, “Which will matter a year from now? Five years from now?” Use the test of time to determine importance. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by short-term “priorities” that won’t matter a year from now. Absolute priorities stand the test of time; zoom out to see the big picture and the absolute priorities.
Another method to prioritize your priorities, famously championed by Warren Buffett, involves taking your list and circling the top five. Those become your sole focus. Everything else is a distraction until the top five get accomplished.
From Big Picture to Action
The more you narrow toward true priorities, the more you stand to enrich your life — professionally, personally and financially.
When it comes to priorities, remember that less is more. After all, if everything is important, nothing is. That’s how you end up with the laundry list of resolutions.
By prioritizing your priorities, you’ll have a better idea what really matters to you — and you’ll be more motivated to get going.
You can read the original article in Newsweek here.