“Madness is rare in individuals—but in groups, parties, nations and ages it is the rule.”

— Nietzche

Priority - this is a singular

• “The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple “first” things. People and companies routinely try to do just that. One leader told me of this experience in a company that talked of “Pri-1, Pri-2, Pri-3, Pri-4, and Pri-5.” This gave the impression of  any things being the priority but actually meant nothing was.” –Greg McKeown, Essentialism
• What is impossible, however, is concentrating on two tasks at once.
• A 2003 study published in the International Journal of Information Management found that the typical person checks email once every five minutes and that, on average, it takes 64 seconds to resume the previous task after checking your email.
• One of the major improvements I've made recently is to assign one (and only one) priority to each work day. Although I plan to complete other tasks during the day, my priority task is the one non-negotiable thing that must get done.
• The people who do the most valuable work have a remarkable willingness to say no to distractions and focus on their one thing.