Priorities and Posteriorities

I recently learned about the concept of posteriorities, though of course they’ve been around a lot longer than that.

I came to it via The Effective Executive by Peter F Drucker, and I’m sorry to say posteriorities was the only interesting thing I found.

Priority

I’m guessing we all know what priorities are…

But just in case, here’s the Cambridge definition:

something that is very important and must be dealt with before other things

That’s quite clear. It’s important, so do it first.

Posteriority

And I’m fairly sure next to no one knows what posteriorities are.

Again, according to the Camdridge dictionary:

the fact of coming after something or being positioned behind something

So, a posteriority is almost the opposite of a priority. It’s something that comes after, or more colloquially, at the back.

Planning

Planning almost always starts with a goal, and then planning out the steps to get there.

When you’re running a complex project, there’s always a critical path. A path where one tasks leads directly to the next task. Where some tasks can be done almost any time, but other tasks can only be done sequentially.

Towards the end of a project, when time and funds are tight, there almost always comes a point where you have to start abandoning non-critical tasks. Or putting in the minimally viable effort to get it done.

But what about posteriorities?

There’s a great swathe of memes and merch along the lines of

But first, coffee (or tea)

Posteriorities put it the other way around.

First (whatever), and then coffee (or tea)

Or sometimes,

Let’s have a nice cup of tea and a sit down

A sentence that stems from logic. First we’ll make tea (or coffee), then have a sit down.

Not that posteriorities are always logical.

And tempting as it is to talk about the arse-end of projects and planning, for once, I will not. Nor even, aside from this instance, talk about back-ends.

You may picture me with a beautific smile.

Priorities and posteriorities

Drucker’s point is that “someone” has to decide what takes priority, whether that’s you, or your circumstances.

According to Drucker, anyone can set priorities – the hard part is deciding what NOT to do, and harder still, resisting the temptation to do it anyway.

Partly because items which have been postponed are more often abandoned than postponed, so why not just call it?

Druker argues that timing is often a critical part of success – doing the right thing at the right time is the important part. To use his example, a couple who fell in love but didn’t get married at 21, will have become different people when they meet again at 38.

My priorities and posteriorities

Way back in 2019 I talked about deciding what to do first, but almost six years later, my priorities are the same.

What is different though, is that I have a to-do list that takes up about half of an A6 Field Notes book.

And as I’m coming to the end of the first quarter, and part way through planning the second, while at the same time learning (again) I can’t do everything…

(Yes, despite all the evidence I still think I’m superhuman).

So the next thing for me, is to decide my posteriorities.

Essentially, prioritise writing and publishing.

Posteriorise developing my website further (which will be hard because I’m always tinkering away at it), and for the moment, revamping my back catalogue (not quite so hard because that’s something I haven’t started yet).

Not to mention