Priorities

I heard a great speaker talk about priorities yesterday. He argued that most of us set up most of our priorities based on fear.

He was mostly talking about how we prioritize work...and he was mostly talking about being the head, or near the head, of an organization. When you run an organization there's this extra bit of pressure that if everything falls apart - it's on you.

For ten years I felt that as the director of an organization that had no direct supervisor in my city. If things in my city fell apart, it was on me. Often I'd work a little extra because I feared things falling apart.

He also made some good points about how we'll generally cheat towards stuff that's measurable. It's easier to finish a report than to have that conversation. You can tell people the report is done, but nobody really cares that you had a nice conversation.

My last job was largely relational, so I was constantly doing stuff that felt great...but wasn't really measurable. I'd have lunch with someone, play racquetball with someone else, hang out with a guy....none of that was measurable. Then I'd go meet with a rich guy and ask him for a bunch of money. If he gave it to me, that was a productive day. If I ran a big meeting, then people were happy.

Lives change because of the little conversations we have.
People are impressed by reports and big meetings. There's this crazy balance between doing stuff that looks good (out of fear of not looking good) and doing the things that really affect change.

Insecurity can really screw up your priorities.

bummer, huh?