One priority.
Many priorities.
Which do you have?
Reader-leader Clay Nichols replied to last Friday’s post to point out that the plural form (at least in literature) has only recently become common.
books.google.com, via Claxus
The year 1700 saw a 17:1 ratio of singular to plural.
2022 saw that fall to only 2:1!
In other words, our priorities (plural) are coming up a lot more often.
PLURAL PRIORITIES SPREAD US THIN AND DESTROY OUR IMPACT
Practice: List your organization’s priorities. What singular priority could you select that would enable the greatest number of the rest? Direct everyone’s focus on that.
Ben and David
StrategyTeaming.com
P.S. Sometimes you have to reframe the problem to find the singular priority. Richard P. Rumelt’s book, “The Crux” is helpfully provocative for that kind of work.
P.P.S. If reducing to a single priority feels impossible, just tighten the focus a little. 10 priorities to 7. 7 to 3. 3 to 2. All of that is winning the focus game.