You Can Deal With This, or You Can Deal With That

So I used to think I was a good prioritizer. But after today I realized I never really had to worry about competing priorities. I just plowed through my to-do list at work and got shit done. It was a list of my creation, a list that often carried itself over into the next day because other things popped up. None of which seemed to compete for space at the top of the priority hierarchy.

Today I began a big job for my direct boss. Its rather daunting, rather dreary, and I can think of many things I'd rather be doing. However, its important and time sensitive so it sits firmly atop the leader board.

Mid-morning my services were half volunteered to another department with another daunting task hanging over them. A quick little training sesh and I knew exactly what I was to do. Mind numbing to be sure, but easy and quick. So I stuck with the easy and quick one. I powered through a good chunk (though in le grande scheme it was more of a tiny nibble) before realizing I needed to think a little harder about my priorities and where I should be focusing my attention.

I had been given instruction on the required spreadsheet for the "big job". I knew what the desired result was and how it was to look once populated. I knew its time-sensitive nature. Yet, I stuck with easy and quick. Because it was easy and quick and thus satisfying in its sense of accomplishment. But I only stuck with it for a moment more. I realized that I needed to bring some truth to that part on my resume where I claim to be "proficient at recognizing priorities and effectively basing my workload on said priorities" or something to that blahblahblah affect. I knew what my priority was and should be. I knew what clearly needed to come in second.

It was just me and my spreadsheet, acting all grown up, working on the boring job cuz it was, like, IMPORTANT or whatever.