The Importance of Triage

For many pro artist and treps the first hurdle that often hangs us up is “What to do next?” And how we think about what we should do next makes a big difference! Just thinking about it can provoke procrastination, or tempt us to take easy street, leaving our most important goals waiting on side lines. This is when we need to “triage!”

The word “triage” is a medical term, mostly used in an emergency room: “The preliminary assessment of patients or casualties in order to determine the urgency of their need for treatment and the nature of treatment required.”  And as a 33-year career nurse, my awesome wife taught me to use that term (or POV) in every area of our life, from to-do lists, to big projects, to vacation planning, even Christmas shopping for the family! 

That said, here’s a rewrite of that definition to help us get past that first hurdle: “The preliminary assessment of our goals, projects and dreams, in order to determine the urgency of their need and the nature of the work required to achieve the intended result.”

Important because the most important choice we can make today is what to do next. The second most important choice is doing it. Not like a blanket rule, more like a continuous assessment.