Powerful Tips to Prioritize Better

In my last post, I discussed the fact that every decision involves tradeoffs. In order to make intentional tradeoffs, we need to be able to prioritize wisely. But how do we develop priorities that serve us best?  

By deliberately and prayerfully identifying your priorities and then sticking to them.

Easier said than done, right?

How do we develop priorities that serve us best?  By applying the concepts in the previous six foundations of intentional living.

• You begin by expecting that your priorities will be tested by the pressures and distractions of this world. It’s not always easy to prioritize wisely.
• You have agency, therefore you have the capacity to prioritize. It’s your responsibility to develop priorities that wisely guide your choices and help us pursue personal and spiritual growth.
• Self-awareness and your core values define what is most important and therefore, what to prioritize.
• In a world filled with conflicting agendas and people demanding your attention, you need regular times of focused reflection to evaluate your priorities and make adjustments.
• A definition of success based on God’s truth and your God-given purpose will clarify what is important and guide your priorities.  
• Counting the cost helps you prioritize so you can make the best tradeoffs possible in an effort to do what matters most.

Unfortunately, you may have acquired some unhelpful beliefs or habits that hinder you from prioritizing wisely. Here are a few:

Mindsets that skew our ability to prioritize wisely

• Perfectionism places top priority on attaining some arbitrary standard of “perfect” rather than on doing the right things. Perfectionism wreaks havoc by inducing us to waste precious time fussing over tiny details instead of moving on to a more important task.
• Procrastination is willfully ignoring what we know is more important by staying busy doing something else. We allow fear to dictate our choices instead of living with purpose.
• People pleasing involves voluntarily giving our agency to others and letting them prioritize for us. Ultimately, we place top priority on what makes someone else happy.
• A habit of immediate gratification. When we allow our desires and impulses to dictate our actions, we prioritize pleasure and comfort over longer-term goals.
• A narrow perspective. When we obsess on a single issue or circumstance, we lose perspective and forget to take into account other factors that are also true. This means we are making decisions based on faulty data.
• Taking life as it comes. If we never bother to develop clear values or a plan for what we want in life, we drift along without a helpful set of criteria to discern what should be a priority.
• Allowing too much on our plate. It’s easier to prioritize five tasks than fifty tasks. The more we allow on our to-do lists, the harder it becomes to identify what is truly important.

“Clutter isn’t just the stuff on the floor. It’s anything that gets in between you and the life you want to live.” Peter Walsh

Tips to prioritize wisely

• Choose your battles. You can’t fix everything at once, so STOP TRYING. Instead, pick the battles that are most essential and let the others go (for now). This is a game-changer when raising children because there are always a dozen things you’d like to fix. Dealing with issues one at a time makes life easier and success more likely.
• Remember your “why” You are more motivated to stick to your principles when you know WHY they matter to you. Your “Why” helps you discern what is truly important among the many urgent tasks demanding your attention.  
• Maintain perspective. Try to consider the potential long-term consequences when prioritizing between two tradeoffs. Ask “which of these options will more likely help me accomplish my goals?” Don’t allow fear or emotions to coerce you into a quick fix at the cost of long-term progress.
• Be proactive. Think through potential challenges before they happen and decide ahead of time how you want to react. That way, you are making important decisions when you are alert and clear-headed, instead of when you are upset, weary, or in a panic.
• Learn to Curate. Museum curators sort through the vast holdings of a museum and select the small percentage that will be on display. In similar fashion, we curate our schedules and our to-do lists by identifying which activities are essential and which are less so by applying the 80 / 20 rule. Generally speaking, you can accomplish 80% of what matters with 20% of the tasks on your to-do list. BUT this means that 80% of the tasks on your list are barely worth doing. If you prioritize these nonessentials, you can spend all day hard at work and only make a small dent in your goals.

“No one functions well in a state of overwhelm. Yet, without setting priorities, we’re allowing anything and everything to take up our time and attention. And we’re placing equal importance to it all.” Jennifer Burger at Simply + Fiercely

Bottom line:

Intentional living is all about deliberately and prayerfully choosing your priorities and then sticking to them.

What mindsets most hinder you from prioritizing wisely? What small step can you take to overcome this mindset and prioritize better?

Want a more intentional life? These seven foundational concepts will help.

1. Fight the good fight, because you are in a battle (whether you know it or not).
2. You have Agency (so use it wisely).
3. Know yourself and your core values.
4. Make space for regular reflection.
5. Adopt God’s definition of self-worth and life purpose.
6. Make intentional tradeoffs, because every choice is a trade-off (whether you are aware of it or not).
7. Prioritize wisely.