Ruthlessly prioritize

- When we fail to prioritize, something inevitably falls through the cracks. And unfortunately, it's usually the really important thing that we care about the most. Plus the overwhelm that comes with not prioritizing often leads to burnout. An inability to solve problems and even health challenges. But maybe you're thinking, "Yeah, yeah. Tell that one to my boss." I know. You can't always prioritize yourself and leave everyone else to deal with the rest. We have to reckon with the never ending to-do list and the very real need to play the long game with our careers and make the most of sometimes limited time. We're going to tackle this from two angles. Proactive, how do you reduce the volume of things landing on your desk or in your inbox. And reactive, once there's already too much going on, how do you pick, choose, and delegate? Let's start with proactive, reducing the number of things. It's easy to pin this one on your boss, your colleagues, the CEO, and say they're the reason you have too much to do. But you're not powerless and you teach people how to treat you. When someone gives you another thing to do, bring them into that prioritizing conversation. For example, if your boss says, "Hey, I need that presentation done this week." You can say, "Got it! Right now, I've scheduled to do X, Y, and Z. Which of those things should I punt until next week?" You can also say yes to part of the thing instead of agreeing to the whole thing. Like, if your colleague asks you to onboard the new interns, you could say, "I'd love to help! How about I tackle the first morning to go over the org chart and the strategic plan with them?" The more you respond with, "Yes, I will totally do this huge thing you ask me to do at the last minute on top of all my other stuff," the more you set yourself up for burnout. But what if the deed is done and you are already barely treading water? It's time to delegate. Even if you don't have directs to pass work to, you can delegate. Use technology to take things off your plate, or at least give yourself a running start. Can AI write a proposal as good as you? Probably not. But you can spend 30 minutes editing something kind of decent instead of three hours writing something from scratch. Next, level with the people around you. It's tempting to think that asking for help or admitting you're overwhelmed is a sign of weakness, but failing to deliver at the last minute, delivering something bad or sacrificing yourself to the point of burnout is worse. If the thought of that is kind of giving you the heebie-jeebies, try it out in small ways, like asking a colleague for feedback or talking with your boss to determine the most crucial projects on your roadmap. If you do not prioritize, you will be overwhelmed. It is inevitable. Organizations are under pressure. There is more to do than ever before. Making sure you're bringing your best self to the most important parts of your work ensures that you're ready to meet this moment.