How to Prioritize
For anyone with a full calendar who still feels like the important things keep slipping.
To prioritize, decide what matters most before your week fills up, sort tasks by importance rather than urgency, protect time for the few things that move your life forward, and say no to more of what does not. A simple test: if you will not remember it in a year, it probably should not get your best hours. The people and moments you cannot get back belong at the top of the list.
Sitting through a school play or being on a bench for what felt like the fiftieth game of the summer didn’t always feel like the best use of my time.
There were events I missed because of work, things I told myself I would make up for later.
My wife would remind me that these are the moments they’ll remember. Not the meetings we attended or the emails we answered, but whether we showed up when it mattered.
Being present isn’t something I’ll regret. Missing moments with the people I love is.
The most popular prioritizing tool is named after President Dwight Eisenhower, who is credited with saying that what is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important. The Eisenhower Matrix sorts tasks into four boxes by urgency and importance, and it makes one thing obvious: most of what fills our days is urgent but not important.
Urgent things shout. Important things wait quietly until it is too late.
Six steps to prioritize what matters
Name your top three
Write down the three things that matter most this season of your life. Work, health, family, a goal. Everything else is measured against them.
Sort urgent from important
Important and urgent: do it now. Important, not urgent: schedule it. Urgent, not important: delegate it. Neither: drop it.
Schedule the important first
Block time for your top priorities before meetings and requests fill the calendar.
Say no more often
Each new commitment takes time from something else. Ask what you are saying no to before you say yes.
Use the one-year test
If you will not remember it in a year, it should not get your best energy today.
Review every week
Spend 15 minutes each week checking whether your calendar matches what you said mattered most.
These are the moments they’ll remember.
Not the meetings we attended or the emails we answered.
Signs your priorities are out of order
- 1. Your calendar is full but your goals are not moving
- 2. You keep saying “next week” to the same thing
- 3. The people closest to you get your leftover time
- 4. You feel busy every day and accomplished almost never
- 5. You cannot name your top three priorities
Related reading: You Don’t Get to Make Those Moments Up, Too Many Goals? How to Know What to Drop and How to Figure Out What Actually Matters.
Common questions
How do I prioritize when everything is important?
Everything is rarely equally important. Name your top three priorities, sort tasks by importance rather than urgency, and schedule the important work first.
What is the Eisenhower Matrix?
A tool that sorts tasks into four boxes: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither. It helps you focus on what matters instead of what is loudest.
How do I prioritize family and work?
Decide which family moments are non-negotiable, put them on the calendar first and protect them the same way you protect important meetings.
How often should I review my priorities?
Weekly works for most people. A short review keeps your calendar aligned with what you said matters most.
Name your top three, sort urgent from important, schedule the important first, say no more often and review every week.
You Are Capable
of More.
Ten principles for becoming the person you know you are capable of being, built from real stories of people who doubted themselves and did it anyway. Winner of the How-To category at the 2026 Paris Book Festival.
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