Priorities Before the Inbox

Put the real priority first before email, Slack, and everyone else's urgency rewrite my morning.

Key Concept

• Put the real priority first - one protected block before the inbox rewrites the morning.
• Level 1: Do your most important task before you open email - like eating breakfast before the phone starts buzzing.
• Level 2: Do your most important task in a protected block of time before you open email and let other people's requests take over your morning.
• Level 3: One locked block for the real priority - inbox and pings wait until the aim gets its first honest minutes.
• Level 4: Because reactive mornings rewrite the day, sequence matters - my work before their urgency, not vice versa.
• Level 5: Put the real priority first - one protected block before the inbox rewrites the morning; the test is what actually gets my first ten minutes.
• The inbox is other people's priorities wearing a siren.
• One block on the actual deliverable - spec, hard conversation, Deep Work - before I answer pings.
• Gospel source: Seek the Kingdom First.
• PKM parallel: Signal vs Noise.
• Priorities before the inbox means one protected block on the actual deliverable - email can wait its turn.

Examples

• Game film due Friday - I cut it before answering every parent group chat ping.
• The report was due at noon - I wrote the first page before opening Slack.

Note Relationships