Prioritization – From the desk of Adam Thomas

My bookshelf creates priorities

I love to read.

In the few years, I’ve come into contact with close to 200 books.

No, that doesn’t mean read (I am not a robot). It means that I need bookshelves :-).

Books are physical objects. They take up space. If you aren’t careful, they can take over your residence.

That jibes against my minimalist tendencies.

So I’ve developed a system to keep my books relevant and help me prioritize:

One bookshelf holds new books(50) – I can’t buy new books unless they fit here. This amount stops me from going too far ahead and creating a system of despair (“There is no way I can read allllllllllllll these books”)

One bookshelf holds books I can keep(50) – I can’t hang on to books unless they are relevant and I reference them often. This shelf is full. Now, I have to give something away if it doesn’t fit.(“I have too many books.“)

This simple system forces me to prioritize and is an exercise to build the skill of prioritization.

What is important here, exactly?

Whenever you go into a meeting, ask that question.

You may be shocked at how confused people are in the room. Soon, after an awkward silence, to people will stand up and say something like the following:

Person 1 says – “Widgets are important.”
Person 2 says – “Gadgets are necessary.”

If you can stomach it, ask the next question:

Which is the priority?

Watch the room turn into pandemonium.

The truth is, we often don’t ask ourselves about prioritization.

It’s an uncomfortable question because it forces us to decide.

We have to decide, though, because there are consequences for inaction. That is when things like Jeopardy Knowledge take hold, and most folks stop executing because they don’t know what is important.

Don’t miss the opportunities because you weren’t direct.

This month’s theme ties into “execution.”

At the end of last year, I wrote a newsletter highlighting the “three tenets of leadership.” Each month, I take a topic related to one of the three tenets and write about my ideas and experience around the topic.

Reread candidate

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham – One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from reading Jay Abraham is the power of being clear about the priorities of your business. It makes everything else clear.