If Everything Is Important, Nothing Is
One of the big mistakes that I see leaders make is believing they can give equal urgency to everything. It feels noble...to treat every client, request, and opportunity as “top priority.” But in practice, when everything is important, nothing is.
Why? Because priorities, by definition, must be ranked.
The Cost of “Everything Is Important”
Imagine a business owner telling her team, “These 28 projects are all top priority.” I actually had that happen years ago.
What happens?
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People scatter their focus across too many tasks.
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Quality drops because attention is divided.
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Deadlines slip because no one knows what to do first.
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Morale suffers because employees feel like they’re failing, even while working hard.
It’s like a firefighter trying to put out 10 small fires at once, running back and forth with a half-empty bucket. All the fires keep burning.
Real-World Example: The Overloaded Sales Team
Imagine a sales department whose leader insisted that all markets, products, and customer types were equally important. The team spent their days bouncing from high-dollar enterprise deals to small one-off orders. They felt busy but weren’t moving the revenue needle.
Once we defined the top three markets and focused efforts there, sales jumped...without working more hours...because energy was concentrated where it mattered most.
The Scorecard Trap
The same principle applies to your scorecard. If you track 35 different metrics every week, you’ll drown in numbers. Instead of creating clarity, the scorecard becomes background noise.
The power of a scorecard comes from focus. When you narrow it to 5–15 truly critical numbers...the ones that, if they’re on track, almost guarantee you’re hitting your goals...you create a powerful dashboard that drives action.
Too many metrics is just like too many priorities: the signal gets lost in the noise.
How to Fix It: The Power of Ranking
The cure for “everything is important” is ruthless prioritization:
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Clarify Your Big Goals – If your annual goal is $20 million in revenue, everything else must be measured against that.
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Rank Projects and Tasks – Use a simple 1–3 ranking:
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1 = Mission-critical now
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2 = Important but not urgent
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3 = Nice-to-have or future consideration
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Limit the Number of #1s – Up to three active top priorities is a good rule. More than that and you’ll lose focus.
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Focus Your Scorecard – Choose the smallest set of numbers that tell you the health of the business. Drop anything that isn’t a direct driver of success.
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Communicate Clearly – Your team should know what to start with every day without asking.
Core Values as a Filter
Your core values can help decide priorities when things feel tied. If one initiative aligns perfectly with your mission and another is just a short-term opportunity, choose the one that strengthens your culture and brand over time.
The Bottom Line
Busyness can feel like productivity, but it’s not the same thing. When leaders make everything a priority, or measure everything, they rob their teams of clarity, momentum, and results.
The most successful organizations aren’t the ones that do the most or track the most...they’re the ones that do the most important things first and measure the few metrics that matter most.
Ryan Giles
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