I’m a professional prioritizer. As a financial advisor, it’s not my preferences that I am responsible for articulating nor my priorities that I am duty-bound to help order, but my clients’. And after 26 years in this business, I have no doubt that financial planning is more about prioritization than possession. This is because no matter how much money anyone has, no one possesses all the resources—time, influence, money, energy, and relationships—that are necessary to do everything they want to do in the world instantly.
Therefore, one of the greatest challenges we have is managing our vast number of priorities and their effective ordering. But a glance at the etymology of the word “priority” is instructive. If my research proves correct, the word entered the English language in the 1300s, so it’s been around for a while. For hundreds of years, it was a starkly singular word meaning the first or most important thing.
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.