Priorities
Priorities aren't about what you do. They're about what you stop doing.
The Scoring Arc
Five inputs, one score. Each P asks a question, scores a dimension, and builds a C:
| # | tight Five | Question | Scores | Drives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Problems | What's broken? | Pain | Commitment — knowing what matters enables sacrifice |
| 2 | Purpose | What is needed? | Demand | Certainty — clear focus reduces decision fatigue |
| 3 | Perspective | What is everyone missing? | Edge | Curiousity — resources concentrate where focus is clear |
| 4 | Predictions | Where is this heading? | Trend | Conviction — seeing the trajectory enables bold bets |
| 5 | Persuasion | Who needs convincing? | Conversion | Credibility — consistent focus signals reliability |
PRIORITY = Pain × Demand × Edge × Trend × Conversion
The higher the composite score, the more it deserves your finite attention. Prompts are the output — right action, right time, based on the scores.
Problems and purpose are mirrors. A problem without purpose is suffering. A purpose without problems is fantasy.
Perspective enables predictions. You can't see where things are heading from inside your own bubble.
Predictions enable persuasion. Conviction with evidence moves people. Conviction without evidence is delusion.
The Priority Algorithm
This scoring arc is how you decide what to build, what to invest in, what to stop doing. The same pattern at every scale:
| Scale | Pain | Demand | Edge | Trend | Conversion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | What frustrates you daily? | What do you need to progress? | What can you see that others can't? | Which skills are appreciating? | Can you sell this to yourself? |
| Product | What's broken for users? | What JTBD scores highest? | What's our unfair advantage? | What does the work chart show? | Will someone pay for this? |
| Platform | What's the commissioning gap? | What do the JTBD supersets say? | What's built but dormant? | Where is AI % rising fastest? | What's closest to revenue? |
The pit of success design: score everything, sort by priority, and the next move becomes obvious. You fall into doing the right thing instead of climbing toward it.
Capability Stack
Deciding priorities is the hardest capability problem. Each P dimension demands different capabilities — and the meta-capabilities that span all five are the rarest.
| P Dimension | Capabilities Required | What They Do |
|---|---|---|
| Problems (Pain) | Pattern Recognition, Listening, Empathy, Critical Thinking | See the pain. Hear the need beneath the complaint. Evaluate whether it's real. |
| Purpose (Demand) | Truth Recognition, Systems Thinking, Questioning | Know what matters. See the whole system's needs. Ask the question that changes everything. |
| Perspective (Edge) | First Principles, Visualisation, Reading, Pattern Recognition | Challenge what everyone accepts. See futures others can't picture. Synthesize across sources. |
| Predictions (Trend) | Planning, Investing, Working Memory, Pattern Recognition | Judgment under uncertainty. Conviction deployed. Track record that compounds. |
| Persuasion (Conversion) | Storytelling, Writing, Presenting, Selling, Prompting | Emotional truth. Voice and conviction. Trust transfer. Direct intelligence at scale. |
| Meta (all 5) | Orchestration, Focus, Taste | When to think vs delegate. Protect attention. Good vs good enough. |
Pattern Recognition appears in three of five dimensions — the most cross-cutting capability. Orchestration is the meta-capability that decides which P you work on and which capabilities you deploy. Once priorities are set, productivity is how you execute them.
Prompts Are the Output
Prompts close the loop. They're the action layer — what you do once priorities are clear. Three forms:
| Form | Mechanism | For Whom |
|---|---|---|
| Mantras | Internal trigger phrases — the human hook | You under pressure |
| Memes | Schelling points — concentrate imagination for coordination | Teams and communities |
| AI Prompts | Structured instructions for agents to execute work charts | The machines |
The cascade: Mantra → Rule → Hook → System. The goal isn't to remember more. It's to engineer systems that eliminate the need to remember.
How long before the prompters become the prompted?
Context
- Performance — How do you know it's working?
- Principles — What truths guide you?
- Questions — What don't you know yet?
- Work Charts — Where is AI taking over?
- Commissioning — What's actually built?
- Capabilities — What you need to score each P
- Productivity — How you execute once priorities are set