A Community Contribution by Arif & Ali Vakil
Practicing GTD makes choosing what to do at any given moment in time considerably easier. The three models that David Allen has framed for identifying priorities (ie Horizons of Focus, Limiting Criteria and Three-Fold Nature of Work) are brilliant. However, even after you’ve earned your GTD Blackbelt, you can still be faced with two or more choices which you can do at the same context, require an equal amount of time to complete and are of equal priority. As soon as that happens the stress levels which you worked so hard to reduce by implementing GTD come shooting right back. Whenever I find myself deluged with options here’s a little checklist that helps me get back in control of my decision making and get moving with confidence on the task that I choose to undertake first.
1. Realize and accept that there’s ALWAYS more to do than there is time to do it.
There’s ALWAYS more to do than that which can get done. The key word in the above statement is ‘always’. Even If I would like to complete all the tasks and projects currently in my to-do lists that are there now (without adding anything new), I would need the rest of my life to finish them off (that is, if I move really fast). And that’s not just me, iIt’s everybody on the planet. So the fact that I cannot complete everything on my list doesn’t really speak badly of me, it’s just the way life is.
2. Brainstorm. Is there a way you can attempt both the items in your to-do list?
It’s when our back is against the wall that we learn to innovate. Facing you is a list of multiple things that you’d like to do but it seems that you can do just one from the list. Look at the tasks again. Maybe you can do more. Brainstorm; draw a mind-map of how you can attempt two or more of the tasks simultaneously. Try out the Natural Planning Model. Picture yourself attempting and having completed all the equal priority tasks. Ask yourself if perhaps there is someone who you didn’t think of earlier to whom you can delegate one of the tasks? Review your calendar. Is there a new slot that you can block out for yourself to finish one of the tasks some other time.
3. If two or more items have equally high priority, accept that time limitations make it possible to do just one thing.
If you still don’t see a way of hitting both targets with one stone, then since all the items you are looking at are of equal priority, accept that time limitations exist and do just one thing. Any one. It doesn’t matter. Since they’re both of equally high priority. The objective is not to complete everything on my list. It’s just to keep moving forward by trying my best to intuitively select one task among all my high priority tasks.
4. What ever you do, don’t do nothing.
Taking the wrong action is still a whole lot better than inaction. After all if you select any task from your list (which by the way you have already filtered by context and know which are important), the worst case scenario would be that you may have selected the second most important task, which is not that bad a choice at all. It’s infinitely better than doing nothing.
5. Finally try your Best and to God leave the rest.
Realize and accept that you are not in charge, nor responsible for the outcome. Your only responsibility is to try your best in every situation. Because that’s all you can do, that’s all you have control over. So just try your best and to God leave the rest.
Would love to hear your thoughts on dealing with conflicting priorities.
You should have made it a 4 step checklist. Your step 4, is okay giving the context that all of the items on your list are important to get done at some point. And of course there are things that are equally important. But as a general rule doing the nothing is better than doing the wrong thing. I would have said, “Doing something of medium importance rather than the thing of highest importance is still moving you toward your goals.”
As for step 5. Why not just make that step 1 and not even bother with GTD at all. You basically said you are impotent, nothing matters and you will die eventually anyway. My counter point to 5 is that you and you alone are responsible for the achievement of your goals and thus your happiness. Trying to assert as fact that nothing matters, you can’t accomplish anything and even if you could you couldn’t know it was the right thing as a tool to resolve conflicting priorities is bizarre.
The bottom line is everything on your list should be something that is building toward goals in your life. If it isn’t it should be crossed off, if there is a priority conflict and even going up to 50,000 feet (your ultimate reason for being on the planet) you can’t decide between the two tasks. Then of it can help to take Alan Laekin’s advice, from his great book, “How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life.”
Take out a piece of paper, write at the top.
“I have decided to do X”
If you are convinced that they are equal priority but still feel locked in doubt, then just pick one, and the physical action of writing your choice down can help eliminate the stress you talked about.