Prioritise and Execute: Choosing Calm in the Midst of Chaos

Every day, without fail, a moment arrives when I feel utterly overwhelmed. My emails and tasks multiply like a hydra; each one I address seems to spawn several more. Before I know it, I’m surrounded, pinned down, and unable to move. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking, reminding me that time is slipping through my fingers.

These are the moments when I pause, take a deep breath, and remind myself of a deceptively simple truth: I can only do one thing at a time. So, I need to prioritise and execute.

It sounds straightforward, doesn’t it? Prioritise what’s important, and execute it. Go through your list one by one. Simple enough. But life, as you’ve probably noticed, rarely fits neatly into tidy boxes we can simply tick off. No matter how meticulously we prioritise, distractions will tempt us, making us leap between projects. Each leap costs us focus, clarity and energy, leaving us exhausted at the end of the day.

My current approach to navigating this chaos begins with a variation of the Eisenhower Matrix. Instead of the usual four quadrants, I distill my tasks into three intuitive categories: urgent, important, and other.

Urgent tasks are immediate and non-negotiable, the fires that demand swift action. There are always multiple urgent tasks demanding attention, so I address the one that will cause the greatest harm if neglected. Important tasks align with my personal and professional goals and long-term vision. These are the architects of meaningful progress. Everything else falls neatly into Other. These are the tasks I delegate, or likely will never look at again until I inevitably remove them from my radar.

Once I’ve clarified task priorities, I turn to my calendar. Time blocking is essential. If I am in meetings for six hours, I cannot realistically expect to complete all 37 remaining tasks on my list. I fill the gaps, balancing urgency with importance and allocating as much time as I think they’ll take. Anyone familiar with time blocking knows plans rarely unfold exactly as anticipated, so I always incorporate buffer time. If a task seems likely to take an hour, I allocate ninety minutes. When an unexpected task ambushes me, I re-allocate my tasks, grateful for my buffers.

Our attention is fragile, especially in this era of endless digital distraction; even meticulous planning doesn’t prevent the temptation to multitask. From quickly reviewing the list again (you know, in case we missed anything), to checking our messages on Instagram, each distraction steals focus from the task in front of us, the one we have already agreed with ourselves to do. To resist this temptation, I declutter both my physical and digital workspaces, keeping open and in front of me only that which I need for the task I face now.

Prioritising and executing isn’t just about managing overwhelm; it’s about cultivating intentionality. It’s about reflecting on what genuinely matters, what we should be really focusing on now. Time, after all, is our most finite and precious resource. We should use it wisely.

And so, dear reader, I invite you to consider what you could do to move through your overwhelm more intentionally. How might you craft your own system of prioritisation and execution, one that resonates with your life’s rhythm and purpose?

The journey through overwhelm is not easy, but within it lies an opportunity to reclaim peace, focus, and meaning. And isn’t that, ultimately, what we all yearn for?

Until next week,

Ric.