avoid priority proliferation

To avoid priority proliferation, managers can inject discipline into the prioritization process by making choices more explicitly and systematically. At Diageo Ireland, for instance, issues are triaged into one of three categories: soft opportunities or threats, which receive ongoing monitoring but no action; hard opportunities or threats, which require immediate action and become a priority within the company; and nonissues, which are dropped from the agenda. Teams can also adopt a small set of simple rules to guide the prioritization process. Consider All America Latina Logistica S.A., which began life as a privatized branch of Brazil’s freight railway. The new company had only $15 million for capital spending to offset decades of underinvestment. So, to select from among countless capital budgeting proposals, management adopted a set of simple rules, such as “eliminate bottlenecks to growing revenues,” “lowest up-front cash beats highest net present value” and “reuse of existing resources beats acquiring new.”

Donald N. Sull

"Closing the Gap Between Strategy and Execution," MIT Sloan Management Review. July 1, 2007

every player wants organization and discipline

Jim O’Brien said the Suns will warm up quickly to Vogel. They will appreciate his basketball knowledge and preparation, whether it be for a game, practice or drill. They also will be drawn to his personality and see that his positivity is genuine. He will hold everyone accountable and he will expect to win.

“Jack Ramsay said once that every player he had ever come into contact with wants organization and discipline,” said O’Brien, referring to the Hall of Fame basketball coach. “And I think they do. But when that organization and discipline and plan comes from a guy that really is ultra-respectful to other human beings, it’s a great combination.”

Doug Haller

"What does Frank Vogel bring to the Suns? His former Pacers give a glimpse," The Athletic. June 21, 2023

set your priorities by design

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.” -  Viktor Frankl

The great and unfortunate reality of life is there are vastly more things expected of us, asked of us, and hoped for by us than we can possibly do with our limited time and resources. 

It is tempting to prioritize everything. But when we do this, we end up having no priorities. Instead, we find ourselves prioritizing whatever is in front of us.

This undisciplined approach leads to our priorities being set by default. The antidote, of course, is to set your priorities by design. 

Here are three steps (and the questions to ask) that can help you when you are trying to prioritize. They work when applied to your business, your career, or your family:

1. Realize I can’t do everything. (What’s Important to me?)
2. Focus on areas where I can do the most good. (Where will my effort be best spent?) 
3. List possible actions I can take that will make a difference. (What can I do?)

When we focus on just a few important things, our effort makes a bigger difference and is more meaningful. 

Greg McKeown

1 Minute Wednesday. October 5, 2022

wisdom is missing

Growing up in Athens, I was brought up on the classics and the Greek myths. They were taught to me not as ancient history, as my children learned them in their American classrooms, but as my personal roots and the source of my identity. Athena was the goddess of wisdom, and, for me, the idea of wisdom is forever identified with her — weaving together strength and vulnerability, creativity and nurturing, passion and discipline, pragmatism and intuition, intellect and imagination, claiming them all, the masculine and the feminine, as part of our essence and expression.

Today we need Athena’s wisdom more than ever. She breathes soul and compassion — exactly what has been missing — into the traditionally masculine world of work and success. Her emergence, fully armed and independent, from Zeus’s head, and her total ease in the practical world of men, whether on the battlefield or in the affairs of the city; her inventive creativity; her passion for law, justice, and politics — they all serve as a reminder that creation and action are as inherently natural to women as they are to men. Women don’t need to leave behind the deeper parts of themselves in order to thrive in a male- dominated world. In fact, women — and men, too — need to reclaim these instinctual strengths if they are to tap into their inner wisdom and redefine success.

Wisdom is precisely what is missing when — like rats in the famous experiment conducted by B. F. Skinner more than fifty years ago — we press the same levers again and again even though there is no longer any real reward. By bringing deeper awareness into our everyday lives, wisdom frees us from the narrow reality we’re trapped in — a reality consumed by the first two metrics of success, money and power, long after they have ceased to fulfill us. Indeed, we continue to pull the levers not only after their diminishing returns have been exhausted, but even after it’s clear they’re actually causing us harm in terms of our health, our peace of mind, and our relationships. Wisdom is about recognizing what we’re really seeking: connection and love. But in order to find them, we need to drop our relentless pursuit of success as society defines it for something more genuine, more meaningful, and more fulfilling.

Arianna Huffington

"Why We Need Wisdom More Than Ever," by Arianna Huffington. Thrive Global. November 30, 2016. Excerpt from Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder pp. 116–130. As found in 2022 Great Quotes From Great Leaders Boxed Calendar: 365 Inspirational Quotes From Leaders Who Shaped the World.

a small daily task

A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.

Anthony Trollope

Resilience: Hard-won Wisdom for Living a Better Life by Eric Greitens. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2015. p.154

we have to carry what is essential

A masterful warrior carries everything she needs and no more, just as a masterful painter uses all of the paint that she needs and no more, and a master chef uses all of the ingredients that she needs and no more. In the same way, a masterful philosopher will use all of the words that she needs and no more. 

I am not a mountain climber, but a few years ago I had the idea that I might want to climb seriously, so I started to read and to train. I’ve climbed a few glacier-covered mountains in the northwestern United States with professionals. One of the things you learn from professional climbers is the discipline of packing well. 

Tools are helpful when you climb. Your sleeping bag provides warmth, your lantern provides light, and your gloves provide protection. Lose your footing and your ax can save your life. Every tool has a purpose, and almost any tool can be helpful.

Every tool also has weight.

Standing at sea level, an ax in your hand feels like a feather. At twelve thousand feet, hours from the summit, an extra pound in your pack feels like an anvil. 

In the same way, words have value. The right words can right your balance. The right words can light your way. But words also have weight. In our life and work, we have to carry what is essential, and leave much of the rest behind.

Resilience: Hard-won Wisdom for Living a Better Life by Eric Greitens. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2015. p.12,13

the difference between emotion and passion

Team members need a keen awareness of the difference between emotion and passion. 

“You don’t want an emotional team; you want a passionate team,” [Coach Herm Edwards] said. “When the pressure mounts the most, you want poise and this sense of, ‘We’ve been here before. We know how to handle this.’ There’s this calmness of when things go crazy … what makes a winning team is to get players that hate to lose more than they win. Teams that have discipline, that are tough — those are the teams that win.”

Anna Katherine Clemmons

"ASU Coach Herm Edwards is Preparing Athletes for Football Season - and Life." USA Today.  November 2019

being present becomes the cornerstone

Like all CEOs, Dominic Barton, global managing director of McKinsey & Company, has a daily schedule of back-to-back meetings. All of these meetings are important, all include complex information, and most require far-reaching decisions. Under these conditions, being present moment to moment, meeting after meeting, is a challenge. But in Barton’s experience, presence is not a choice. It’s a necessity.

“When I’m with people during the day, I’m doing my best to be focused, I’m present with them,” he told us. “Part of this is because I get energy from being with people. But the other part is because if you’re not focused, if you’re not present, it’s discouraging to the other people. They lose motivation. If you’re not present, I think you may as well not have the meeting. It can sometimes be difficult to do, but it’s always important.”

The person in front of you does not know what you were dealing with a moment ago, nor should they. It’s your responsibility to show up and be fully present to effectively use the limited time you have with each person you meet.

Barton believes being mindfully present requires discipline and skill. It takes discipline to stay on task, not letting yourself be affected by nagging challenges or distracted by mental chatter. And it requires skill to have the mental ability to stay laser focused and present. When he’s present throughout his day, he finds it deeply gratifying. Being present becomes the cornerstone to getting the most out of every moment with each person.

Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter

"If You Aspire to Be a Great Leader, Be Present" Harvard Business Review. December 13, 2017.

their discipline is weak

One of the great tragedies we witness almost daily is the tragedy of men of high aim and low achievement. Their motives are noble. Their proclaimed ambition is praiseworthy. Their capacity is great. But their discipline is weak. They succumb to indolence. Appetite robs them of will.

Gordon B. Hinckley

Ensign May 1979 as found in Ensign May 1994

years of effort

One of the biggest New Year's resolutions clichés involves someone saying they'll start going to the gym three times a week, attacking the goal passionately at first, and then fizzling out by mid-February.

According to [Jocko] Willink's explanation, the reason why such a resolution is so easily broken is that it's isolated and flexible. The alternative is to incorporate a level of discipline into your entire life, shifting your mindset and adjusting routines as necessary.

So instead of saying that for 2018 you'll go to the gym three times each week, set aside some gym clothes tonight, wake up 30 minutes earlier than usual tomorrow, and exercise. Keep forcing yourself to do that every morning, not three out of seven, and don't worry about annual goals at first.

"Getting stronger, healthier, smarter, wealthier — getting better — none of these things happen from a mere one day of effort," Willink said. They all takes weeks, months, and years of effort for results to show."

Richard Feloni

"A retired Navy SEAL commander explains exactly why people don't stick to their New Year's resolutions — and how you can do better" Business Insider. January 2, 2018.