Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. So you know how everything feels like it's on fire these days?

How do you manage to keep all the balls in the air? Today, I'm going to share my favorite

strategies for managing priorities when everything seems to be a priority. I talked to a client

last week, the president of a business I've worked with for years.

In the past, I would have described her as generally cool as a cucumber, but not this time.

In this conversation, she showed up with an almost frantic energy, seeking help with their

organization design, her span of control, a plan to re-engage in overwhelmed

and exhausted workforce, a talent retention strategy, and an employee development roadmap.

I let her put it all out there, and then I asked if she could prioritize for me. She told me that

was her prioritized list. I don't think she's alone. And I don't think it's only upper management

feeling this way. These days, we're all feeling like everything is on fire. And as more of us

are working remotely or in a hybrid fashion, we're missing some of those in-person cues that

help us interpret where our leaders are feeling the greatest angst. For those of us who are high achievers,

our default tends to be just to prioritize everything, which is, of course, the worst idea,

because it heightens the risk of burnout, of a ball dropping, of the quality of something suffering

somewhere. Waiting through chaos is a rule and no longer an exception. It's a skill we all need

to build and show off on the regular. So what can you do when it feels like everything is a

priority and there's just no way to get it all done well? Here are four steps you can take. First,

begin with boldness. Sometimes overfilling our plates can leave us feeling

like superheroes. But candidly, and here comes some tough love, it's kind of the lazy person's game,

because pushing for clarity takes courage, energy, and a willingness to be vulnerable. To admit you

can't handle everything

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