11 ways to not prioritize

I have been reading ADD Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau. While the strategies and and examples in the book deal with the difficulties of ADD, I find much of the book can be helpful for anyone. Judith and Kathleen wrote a short section on the challenges of prioritizing and I wanted to share them. You can find this section on page 70 and 71 of their book: It is only when we take stock that we can prioritize, asking ourselves, "Is this really necessary?" "If I'm going to take this on, what am I going to give up?" "Am I really living life according to my deepest values, or just reacting to whatever pops up?" Prioritizing is difficult for everyone, especially in the fast-paced life that so many adults live today, bombarded with choices and burdened with high-pressure jobs in addition to the responsibilities of home and family. When ADD is added to the mix, prioritizing often goes out the window in favor of rapid reaction - reacting to demands as they hit you, without deciding whether they are your top priority. Rarely in a jam-packed day, does an adult with ADD take time to realistically assess what can be accomplished and then prioritize, asking, "If I can only accomplish three tasks on my list, which three should I choose?" Often, top-priority items may be the least likely to be chosen, while many less important things are placed first. Instead of prioritizing "first things first," many people make choices according to other rules: Whatever is on top- Paper shuffling Whatever is the easiest- Easy does it Knock-knock- Responding to whomever asks me first False Progress- The more I can check off my list the more productive I feel Proximity- Might as well do it while I'm passing by You decide- I don't want the responsibility Conflict avoidance- If you yell loudly about something, it'll go to the top of my list Whatever I'm in the mood for- I'll do it if I feel like it Save the worst for last- Anything but that! Go with the flow- Doing whatever the others do Habit- Just doing the usual All of these ways of "prioritizing" are not really prioritizing at all. In fact, they are ways to avoid prioritizing, letting habit, circumstance or the priorities of others determine how you spend your time. Adults with ADD who "prioritize" according to these rules often find they've never met many of their life's goals.