The Best Way To Prioritize Your Work (So You Actually Make Progress)

Read time: 3 minutes

Sometimes, you see things that you can’t unsee — things that fundamentally change the way you approach your work.

This was one of those things — a 3-minute video on LinkedIn introducing a simple framework for prioritization.

In this post, I will share my core takeaway from the video and how I'm applying it to my work priorities.

(click here to watch the video and develop your takeaways)

Most entrepreneurs and teams struggle with setting and sticking to priorities.

The problem often lies in a lack of actionableness rather than a lack of clarity. From my experience working with (and for) various companies, I've noticed a common themes:

1. Leadership often fails to align actions with stated priorities, leading to confusion among team members.

2. The sheer number of priorities listed can be overwhelming and counterproductive.

3. Priorities are not always backed by a clear rationale (the word “because” is a powerful clarifier).

That's where the framework comes in — “…compress the most important parts of your strategy into something that actually looks like a priority.”

Reframe your prioritization strategy as “one good thing over another equally good thing.”

This captured my attention because it’s designed to be actionable, not just informative.

This is what a real strategy looks like. Actionable.

This structure permits you to choose this over that — and everyone knows it — instead of pointing to the list of “the things to focus on as priorities.”

• Ditch the wordiness

• Enable easier yes’s and no’s

• Make it memorable and practical

I got specific about my priorities for my business and brand — here they are:

1. Single scalable service over multi-problem approach

My business strategy has always been to solve multiple problems among fewer clients. This means I would partner with a company for years, helping them in various areas, such as finance, operations, marketing, analytics, etc.

While it's worked, I've learned a few things:

• It’s becoming less scalable

• I’ve experimented enough to know where I’m good and bad (and what I like/don’t like)

• Sometimes, it feels like I'm choosing short-term money over long-term sustainable growth

This means saying no to those opportunities that come my way — even if they are super lucrative.

2. Newsletter depth over social reach

Attention is super important, but I’m building a smaller/focused group of readers interested in the same principles/concepts as me.

I’ve said in previous posts that marketing is way, way, way, way more important than you think. But I’ve also realized that I don’t need 100,000s of people following me to make the meaningful impact I want to make.

(To be direct, my newsletter stats are higher than average — and I share them publicly)

After 56 weeks, I've learned that this newsletter is more special than you may realize. I don’t mean from a personal/sentimental standpoint. I mean real value.

• It condenses my thoughts, decisions, and actions concisely (I write about what/how I use in practice)

• I have a library of content that I can use forever (and can point people to)

• I can foster deeper connections with active readers instead of passive scrollers

Does this mean I shy away from social? No way.

It’s still just as important — it just never takes priority over the energy that goes into this newsletter.

3. Time-saving measures over cost-saving efforts

You base your activities on one of two frames:

• Spend time to save money

• Spend money to save time

Being the more generalist type, I have always leaned toward the first one.

But I know that I can only do so much — and there is a cap to the speed of growth. This means prioritizing time over money. Here are the upcoming decisions I’ll make:

• Outsourcing more work (but only once I have enough knowledge to make decisions on it)

• Investing in higher-cost courses or coaching (to speed up the key learnings)

• Increase the business’s top-of-funnel (advertising, referral program) to match the pace/scale of organic approach

Those are my reframed priorities.

Credit goes to Clay Parker Jones for this framework.

Thanks for reading,

Peter

P.S. Reply to this email — tell me what you think about this reframe. I’d love to hear your priorities, too.

Missed last week’s post:

Last week, I wrote:

How To Be A Generalist (Without Burning Out)

It’s about the four pillars (core skills) you need to keep your business going and growing.

Read it here.

When you’re ready — here are 2 ways I can help you:

I’m Peter, a former Harvard strategist turned entrepreneur — I help business owners uncover the actionable insights that move the needle for your business (without unnecessary complexities).

• Want to ditch the overthinking? Click here to break free from wasteful thought patterns and shorten the gap between thinking and action to propel your business forward.

• Want to grow profits? Click here to turn your business into a well-oiled machine with simple operating and finance strategies so you get more for every ounce of effort you put in.