Priorities, Procrastination, and Productivity

Priorities, procrastination, and productivity. All of us have struggled with at least one (or maybe all three) in our lives. One we want less of, one we want more of, and one we want to be clearer. Let’s talk about the connection between these elusive ideas and what we can do to get all of them in alignment for our success and satisfaction.

Priorities

The root of the word priority is the Latin prioritas, which means “first in rank, order, or dignity. Sometime in the last hundred years or so, we have made things harder on ourselves by pluralizng the word – watering it down so that we can have a variety of “priorities.” How can 5, 7 or 10 things on your list all be first in the rank order?

Knowing the relative priority of a task or goal creates important (and too often elusive) clarity. As I often say, if you have 10 priorities (or 7 or even 5), you don’t have any.

Procrastination

There are plenty of causes for procrastination (I’ve written about some of them here). Whatever the cause(s), procrastination stops our progress and ruins our momentum. While it can make us feel better for a moment (when we aren’t doing something that might be hard or uncomfortable), it typically creates feelings of guilt and reduces our self-image and confidence.

In my experience, even the most effective and productive people sometimes fall prey to this problem.

Productivity

Productivity is more than being busy. It is more than having a full calendar. It is making meaningful progress on meaningful work in an efficient way. In other words, productivity is a measure of accomplishment of important and valuable things, not a measurement of activity.

When we are clear on this distinction, we have a chance to dramatically increase our work output.

Making the Connection

Here’s the big picture connection between these three important concepts:

• When priorities are few (or there is only one) and clear,
• Procrastination as related to the priorities will drop (procrastination on other items is OK),
• And productivity will soar, as we are working on the most important things (a few clear priorities) in a timely way (free of excessive procrastination).

Take a minute to put a current challenge of yours through this thought process. If you are procrastinating, are your priorities clear? If not, how can you clarify them (or reduce the number of them) to give you clarity and motivation to overcome your procrastination?

Here’s a further way to practice building this connection.

1. Review your priorities. What are your most impactful projects or goals?
2. Look at your calendar for next week and ask yourself if you are spending enough time on your highest priorities. If not, schedule time (or more time) for those priorities.
3. If one of your priorities is your learning and development, is it on your calendar? If not, Virtual LeaderCon (a 2.5 day, free-to-attend virtual & interactive learning experience where you can learn from top thought leaders) might be a good option!
4. Look at the agenda. Find a session that matches/aligns with your priorities and don’t procrastinate – register and put it on your calendar now. 

Priorities, procrastination, and productivity.

When we are clearer about our priorities, we are less likely to procrastinate, and will get better results, faster. Start at the beginning and you will reap the benefits now, and long into your future.