Play a Bigger Game

Chapter 11 Get your priorities right

The next step in playing a bigger game is to decide which goal is the priority for you right now. To get really clear on which of your five 90-day goals is the most important for you, and therefore the one to execute first, we will use a process called false ranking. Ideally this exercise should be completed in less than five minutes, because when forced to choose quickly we tend to choose what is important to us now. Asking certain questions about your five goals can help you to resolve which is most important to you.

The false ranking process

False ranking is the process of comparing each of your chosen goals with all the others. The aim is to help you identify your number one, priority goal through a process of elimination. You might be surprised which one of your goals ends up at the top of the list when you have completed this exercise. Let's walk through the process as we ask Paul to compare the five goals he chose.

1 Spend more time with my children.

•   ‘Paul, is spending time with your children more important than rekindling your relationship with your partner?' Paul chooses improving his relationship with his partner, so let's put a tick beside goal 2 on his list.
•   ‘Is spending more time with your children more important than getting ...