“Word Nerd Wednesday” is a weekly series that uses language to help us think differently and solve old problems in new ways.
The word “priority” first appeared in the 1400s. It’s meaning was “that which comes first in order of time (i.e. prior to everything else).” For roughly 500 years, priority existed only in the singular. Makes total sense. Unless we figure out how to bend the space-time continuum there can only be one thing that is truly “first.”
In the 20th century, though, someone decided to give it a try. “Priorities” (plural) gained popularity, and now most of us assume we can have 2 or 3 (or 10) “most important” things.
Deep down we know it is impossible. Why, then, do we keep buying in to this illusion? We may avoid the temporary discomfort of saying no, of closing off an option that could have some benefit. But we’re replacing it with a perpetual state of frustration. We feel spread too thin, always busy but never productive.
My favorite tool for tough priority calls is a question from Greg McKeown‘s book Essentialism: “What is the ONE thing I could do right now to make everything else easier or unnecessary?”
How would thinking of it that way change what’s at the top of your personal and organizational to-do lists?
