Are you rationalizing when you should be prioritizing?

Transcript

Hi there, it’s Peter Winick. I’m the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage. And here’s the idea that I want to share with you today. And that’s this. Are you rationalizing when you should really be prioritizing?

Well, what’s the difference between the two? When you rationalize, that’s kind of a defense mechanism and something that you do after the fact. I did this thing because I think it will lead to that outcome.

Prioritizing is different. That’s when, in advance—typically as an outcome of a strategy or some sort of planning—you come up with objectives and rationalize why you’re going to choose something in advance over something else, or choose not to do something at all in its entirety.

So what I find interesting in my work working with all sorts of authors and thought leaders, academics and such, is that they’re often rationalizing more than they’re prioritizing. They’re coming up with the reasons why they’re doing things that might not yield them the outcomes that they’re actually looking for.

They’re, you know, making up excuses or looking in the rearview mirror to say, “Well, of course it made sense for me to do this and this and this because A, B, and C happened.”

But when you’re actually prioritizing and being deliberate and thoughtful and strategic, it helps you make the decisions that you’re going to make and move forward towards the objectives that you’re trying to achieve.

So anyway, thought I would share that with you and see if you’re rationalizing when you should be prioritizing.