Prioritize and Execute (and fish)

I wonder if many would think a book directed toward those looking to improve their business and written by retired Navy Seals would be a fun read. I don’t know if many that are not actively trying to get ahead would even want a brief overview, much less add the title to their Books to Read.

I read a book fitting this description because I do stuff like that in my eclectic reading. I have bookshelves filled with loosely organized hardbacks and paperbacks of every size, the nonfiction, including this most recent addition, peppered with highlighted passages and notes in the margins. What I have gained from this book has led me to some unexpected places, and I’ve learned some approaches worth sharing.

The book is titled Extreme Ownership and was written by the founders of Echelon Front, a leadership consulting company utilized by businesses to help increase efficiency and solve problems within companies. According to the founders, the book was a response to requests from clients that wanted some organized literature that outlined the concepts taught.

The authors Jocko Willink and Leif Babin co-wrote the book. Each chapter begins with a battlefield story that describes how a specific lesson was learned. Sometimes the hard way.

            Following the battlefield story is another account of how that lesson was applied to a business situation, or more accurately, how that lesson was relayed and sometimes reluctantly applied by a business leader. It is wrapped up by what happened and what worked.

            As the title implies, the main thing these department heads or CEOs had to do was look at themselves. There were always problems with others, but nothing got done until the person in charge took a hard look and discovered what they were doing wrong.

For example, A person in charge was giving directions to employees and finding that no one followed them. After some searching, they found that they had been unclear or overly complicated. After a personal moment of clarity and a few adjustments, things were corrected.

            I have earmarked this book for homeschool learning. It teaches communication skills, illustrates problem-solving, and helps develop solution-oriented thinking. The battle scenes would draw in most teenagers and give a more accurate portrayal of the military's workings than most other sources.

The stories of failing businesses tell of people going through struggles and having feelings that any teenager can relate to and may even be comforted to know that successful adults have the same social and emotional struggles.

This would fall under the category I hear about so often: “Why don’t they teach this stuff in school?”

It doesn’t matter why. I can teach it in my own home and have discovered a new resource in this book to help me do it. Homeschool curriculum, in my way. Add this to your list of teen books to read.

One of the concepts from the book that now pops off the page in neon yellow highlight has been of considerable value to me. “Prioritize and Execute.” It has led me to some unexpected places.

My to-do list gets quite long. I get things done; it’s just that tasks get added at a greater rate than I can accomplish and check them off. This bothered me in years past. I felt as if I needed to clear the to-do list to let down and be – done.

I haven’t felt this way for a long time, and the idea is now comical. There is no done; if there was, that’s not a place I think I want to be! I have much gratitude for the things on my to-do list now and that it keeps growing. Here is an example of how I look at the list with gratitude instead of anxiety:

• Get emissions done (I have a truck!)

• Pick up daughter from wherever (I have a daughter and get to spend time with her on the ride!)

• Get something repaired in the house (I have a house!)

• Some mundane work tasks (I have a job!)

That is a small example; the things on my list usually consist of caring for something I am grateful to have. And taking care of them is an act of gratitude. Taking action based on appreciation creates energy that brings more of the same into my life. Looking at each item as stressful and getting in the way of what I want to do also creates more of the same. More stress and anxiety and less time to do what I want. That’s the difference between doing something on the list with a grateful heart and still doing the task but being stressed and unhappy throughout.

So what about “Prioritize and Execute”? The idea from the book was used in the case of a CEO that wanted to get more done than was possible. That’s my personality type as well. The solution I came up with for a long time was to work harder and longer and stop having free time. As I did this, the list continued to grow faster than I could mark things off. I felt I was stuck inside a to-do list, drowning in it.

Blowing things off doesn’t work, but working harder doesn’t seem to clear the list, either. What can be done?

The author told the CEO to prioritize the list, then execute (do them). This seems very simple, and it is, but it’s also deceptively powerful. It is also tricky to do when one is emotionally in the situation.

The result is a little self-honesty and some acceptance. Some things on that list just aren’t going to happen. Since the list has been prioritized, when the discovery that some things need to be cut occurs, it’s easy to see what needs to go.

Here’s how this worked out for me in the past few weeks. Once or twice a year, I teach a twelve-week class. It takes a lot of energy and time. When I’m teaching, the to-do list adds up exponentially. Every bit of time is accounted for.

One day I got a call. Things worked out so that my schedule for the next day was clear!

With the background song of birds excited for spring, I set up at a table on my back porch with a coffee, notebook, and fountain pen inked up with Noodlers Black. I looked over my to-do list in an attempt to prioritize and execute. I couldn’t knock out the entire list in a day, but I would get as many high-priority items off as I could.

What I did may not have been the authors' intent, but it’s how I apply this principle. I don’t just include to-do list items when I prioritize. Why would I? If that’s all I took into account, then that means my life is a to-do list.

I did move the items on the list around to organize them from most to least important or time-sensitive. I then talked to my wife, who had also had an accumulating list due to my extra work and made a plan.

The following morning I loaded up a navy backpack with packed lunches and water and took my kids to the aquarium. We had a great day.

This was missing from the list, but as it turned out, connecting with my family was the number one priority. It had drifted a touch to the back burner over the previous few weeks. This, above all else, is something that needed to be promptly corrected.

The following week the same thing happened. A make-up day! My schedule for the day had been spontaneously cleared. I looked at the list again.

I loaded up my backpack with snacks and water. I took my son fishing in the river. He gutted his first trout. He brought fresh protein home to his family. We made fillets.

It was a very productive day.