At the risk of stating the obvious: always working on your #1 priority doesn’t work.

I have learned this the hard way. (Most recently, when I tried David Gauer’s cool sticky note todo list system.)

Health, and specifically exercise, are generally my #2 or #3 priority. “Ruthless prioritization” means you never get to your #2 and #3 priorities, until your teeth start falling out, at which point they become your #1 priority. This is dumb. We need to anticipate the teeth falling out, and hoist the priority of going to the dentist proactively. I think many people do this, but slightly later than optimal.

Example: a firefighter’s priorities tend to be 1) put out fire(s) actively burning houses and/or people, 2) eat, sleep, spend time with spouse, etc. If they sit down to a nice candlelit dinner with their spouse, and their pager goes off, they’re out the door in under a minute.

But then suppose they are transplanted to an understaffed department in a busy city, where there’s always a fire that needs to be fought? The hierarchy of priorities is no longer sustainable. In order to do 1), they need to do a certain amount of 2), or else they’ll die/quit.

Naïve top priority: monotask on top priority to exclusion of all else.

Holistic top priority: ~80% #1 priority + ~20% other Quadrant II tasks

Today I went on a run with a friend rather than writing an essay. I chose something that is lower on my overall priorities, because I know that although exercise and visiting almost never seem as important as accomplishing my #1 task in the moment, in the long run health and happiness are the feedstock for #1 taskmaxxing.