How to prioritise when everything feels important

Executive overview

Prioritisation is genuinely hard — even for high-performing leaders who know what matters. Ariel Garten, neuroscientist and founder, admits she still defaults to doing more rather than cutting anything.

Her practical anchor: serve the paying customer first, then ask what creates the highest good across all stakeholders — business, family, customers. When those conflict, it becomes a values decision.

Imperfect prioritisation, executed consistently, beats perfect prioritisation that never happens.

Macro prioritisation: annual and quarterly planning

• Set an annual plan starting in October; publish commitments to create accountability.
• Expect shifts — market demand and urgent fires will override the plan.
• Knowing who the paying customer is cuts through ambiguity fast.

Micro prioritisation: day to day

• Many decisions get made for you by circumstance — accept this rather than resist it.
• When you do have a choice, lean on intuition built from values, not rules.
• Recognise it is okay to only accomplish so much in a single work session.

The real trade-off

• Time spent unfocused at work creates a direct cost later — less presence with family.
• Saying yes to fewer things preserves the richness of what remains.
• The goal is not balance; it is making the hours that exist actually count.