What to Do When Everything Is Important
Just because everything is important doesn’t mean everything is a priority.
We know this, and yet, it can be so hard to figure out where to put our attention and energy.
Here are a few questions to help pull focus and prioritize.
Zoom Out
How do I want to feel next month, this week, or this quarter?
A month/season/year from now, what will I be most proud of having accomplished or worked on? How can I set myself up well for what’s next?
What goals do I have that would significantly change my life/business? How can I work toward that?
Look for what would bring meaningful progress toward what matters most.
Get Perspective
If I don’t do, or let go of this thing, are there any downstream consequences I’m unwilling to live with? (for myself or others)
Is this actually necessary? And if so, does this need to be done now?
What will I have to say no to in order to say yes to this? If I do this, what won’t get done?
Be honest with yourself about the choice you do have.
Filter It Through Your Energy
What kind of energy do I have and how can I use it well? Doing something new requires a different brand of energy than doing some familiar. Do I have growth or maintenance energy?
How can I honour where I am? What would someone who respects or loves themselves do?
Is there a way I can right-size this? Play with pacing, volume, and speed. What do I trust myself to do?
Work with, not against, what you currently have access to.
Consider Balance
What activities and actions might bring balance to my energy, my week, or my upcoming month?
Will feeding this feed me? Consider mutuality. Will engaging with this or putting this in place actually give me back energy or support me in some way?
What’s alive here? Is there some life I can follow and nurture, that might carry me through the rest of it?
Consider what might emerge when engaging with something. You do not exist in a vacuum, you are in (generative!) collaboration with your environment/work.
Final Thoughts
Journal on these questions, bring one of them into your next team meeting, and see what happens.
And remember: it’s not a no forever, it’s a no for now.
You can honour what’s important to you without having to act on it right away.
Did this resonate with you? Do you have your own go-to questions? Let me know.
