Leadership Thought of the Week: Don’t Do Second Things First

I’m a big list maker at work - I have a yellow legal pad with me at all times, and I’m always jotting down my “to dos“.

I cleaned out one of my credenzas a few weeks ago, and discovered I had about 30 of these pads from past weeks, months, and years stored away for posterity - a literal record of contemplated, ranked, and sorted priorities.

In reviewing these old lists with the benefit of hindsight, I could ascertain whether the priorities I set were correct - and, more importantly, whether I went after the right ones first .

It was a great exercise for me, because as a leader how we prioritize our goals and objectives is paramount to our success. Consequently I passed this lesson forward to my management team today, along with this quote by Robert J. McKain:

“Set priorities for your goals. A major part of successful living lies in the ability to put first things first. Indeed, the reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.”

How often do we come up with a list but avoid the first thing we write down, because it’s probably the most difficult one? I think it’s human nature to want to do the “easier” things first, but good leaders need to resist that temptation and have the courage to dive in to the big and hairy stuff.

A classic example is diving into a spreadsheet or another “depersonalized” project instead of dealing with a critical teammate who is not performing and need to hold accountable. That really is the hard stuff, and typically are the “first things” we need to do to keep our goals on track.

I know that’s happened to me now and then - the evidence came right up in front of me when I looked back at my yellow pads - so I’ve redoubled my resolve going forward to keep my courage up when those tough tests of leadership happen.

So don’t do second things first - trust your instincts, go to the top of the list, and get ‘er done!