Prioritise!

This is actually an exercise in approximation. When things are large and complex getting all the information is not possible. Checking you are on the right track can also be done with prioritising. The trick is to simplify life and the large problems of life. What ever people tell you. Not all things are equal! Some things have more influence and effect than others. The first point is identifying the top 3 most important things and working with them first. An underlying pattern is behind the Pareto principle where things (not all, but many) tend to have a large 80% proportion and a 20% smaller portion. What you want is to avoid majoring in the minors. Working too much on minor elements or issues and becoming ineffective, when working on a top 3 often puts you in a position to be effective. It is easy to get caught up in detail, many people do it to themselves but others are also very capable of distracting you to spend too much time on insignificant detail and not the solid elements. So there has to be an active process on finding out what the most important parts, actions or whatever are, then working on them primarily. If you have more time or the competition is strong then progress to the other less influential elements.

The first example is health. The first question is what kills and causes the most disease for your population? In the west 3 out of 4 people die of Heart disease, Cancer and Stroke, on top of this is the epidemic of diabetes where in the UK of the massive Health service budget 10% is spent on diabetes alone. For the list luckily if I want to prevent/reduce the chances or impact the top 3 killers the prioritise are the same that prevent Diabetes too. So:

1. Sleep right
2. Eat right
3. Move right

Not really any surprise and also no surprise that in the west we don’t do them! The 3 elements are interactive. They also will impact many other elements of health outside the top 3 as many medical conditions; physical and mental are improved by the top 3 elements. So sleep enough to improve performance like remembering things, learning things, not dropping things and inside keeping the blood sugar levels under control (the diabetes link) just for starters. Yes people who do not sleep enough with enough quality die earlier and have worse health. Eating is the same and no real surprise eat enough (not too much) and eat well. So cut out the treats you have every day and make sure you have healthy stuff each day. Many food stuffs are toxic in the amounts people take them. We all know alcohol and other drugs poison but too much in general and too much sugar also have to be dealt with by the body and it has it’s needs which might not be your wants. Moving right starts with good every day technique keeping the joints aligned using the body in a way that reduces damage traumatically and chronically. Learning to squat is helpful for lifting things but also walking with good foot and knee position. With technique improved just moving rather than the epidemic of sitting. This is the major 3, when you have made progress with these then looking at the next 3 factors for health or looking at a top 3 of sleep etc., will help less but can help solidify good habits. If you want to reach higher levels then optimising basic health and pursuing advanced goals in activities and sport will need more detailed looks at exercising and nutrition while maintaining health.

Self defense is the next area. The first priorities are:

1. Awareness
2. Avoidance
3. Communication

So the first stage is getting an idea of what happens in terms of violence and then what is happening now? So the good news is at present the west is less violent than it has ever been. So what are the big factors around violence, hick (pardon me) yes you’ve got it alcohol, the big factor effects any awareness and avoidance and any physical response. Location; where is violence most common? Where alcohol is consumed, is number 1 then when people are on their own so plan to reduce this time and avoid the worst times. Who suffers violence is the next question. Adolescence are more vulnerable but vulnerability is a factor. General advice is to not look or be like easy prey, for criminals or emotionally disturbed people. Another is understanding of how violence occurs. This could be described as communication, it occurs because one person needs/wants something you have got or they can get from you. It may be crime or ego or status factors. Here communication is a key factor where you need to communicate you are not an easy mark, but also showing respect to peoples ego and status. Dealing with violence most often can be talked out of helping solve the other persons problem and understanding what they want to communicate.

Notice in self defense I have not mentioned fighting it is not in the top 3 and yet it is what most people lead with as with health I did not mention Doctors because they are for when other things have gone wrong and would give the same top 3 if you asked. Heart specialists may make their money through heart surgery, but they would still favour fewer operations to do!

So generally what ever you are looking at you need knowledge of what actually happens, then prioritise the key elements for your attention and act in best order. The order of action is a detail worth looking at putting first things first. Very few people do any real research and reflection or planning so are guessing, then when time is limited they use it unwisely. Wasting it and being ineffective and they either redo or go down a path of hard work.

As I stated prioritising is approximating, so don’t forget it is not the whole. For more advanced performance you will need to look for balance, now the fewer elements to balance the easier it is, so try not to bite off too much and fall in the trap of getting over engaged with minor elements. To do a sport first you have to be on the field, next stage is to be on the right part of the field and third is subtle movements to get the best angles for performance. Getting a perfect angle when not on the field is useless and looks silly in the supermarket.

Finding out the top 3 can be done by using experts (real not imitators). If you need to know the top 3 for health I have no words for you as the information is everywhere and you have heard it before. For self defense my go to people are Miller and MacYoung in books, internet and in person. They communicate well and have more experience than I want. Over time you know more including about yourself and need less help but also know better when you need help.