I was reading a Directive from a senior military officer the other day. In it he listed his number one priority as ‘safety of personnel’. Second or third priorities were actually performing some of the function of the organization. It got me thinking.

Can you have multiple aims? In my simple world as an athlete it was relatively easy to define the aims: run as fast as possible over a certain distance. There were some definite stepping stones and measures on the way – UK under 20s, county championships and Southern Counties – but of the aims of the year there was only one: do as well as possible at the English Schools. Life goals involve aligning diverse patterns each with their own modulations. The year’s ‘goal’ was the point at which all these modulations had to dove tail. For every other event something might not be quite right. Knowing an event wasn’t the priority allowed us to accept a degree of imperfection in the conditions.

When coaching I am always careful to help clients define specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound goals. Normally, I try and get them to define just one. If someone says they want to be happy I’ll ask them what that will mean to them. If they list a series of measures I’ll ask them to define the most important. Essentially, at some stage there’s likely to be a conflict between priorities: eg spend more time with the family or run every week at Park Run. If family time is the priority and there is something specific to do with family time that conflicts with Park Run then the decision is much easier to make.

The more I’ve thought about it the more I think you can only have one priority. Everything else is just conditions, process goals, and environmental factors in which the ecology of the priority sits.

Plenty of companies have goals, priorities and mission statements that either try and list everything or say nothing. The happy company is the one that is honest about its priorities. I often cite John Lewis as an excellent example. The model where all workers are partners acknowledges that the company’s priority is its people. It exists to interact with the rest of the world for the benefit of its staff. If its sales take a dip the team suffers. Sports Direct, on the other hand, exists for the benefit of its owner.

The British military will claim that it exists to protect Britain. Yet has adventurism in other people’s civil wars made Britain any safer? In honesty the military should be there to keep a trained seed corn should the country or its interests ever be under real physical threat.

Coaching is about helping people identify their focus and how to arrange their lives to ensure they honour this focus. It is the same with companies. Most have mission statements but if the mission statement doesn’t actually reflect the main thrust of activity then a degree of dissonance will creep in and it will be less effective.

I haven’t written a blog for a while, probably because I have been focused on other priorities. It’s been a busy year and, to a certain extent, it’s felt as though I have been gathering nuts and fruit and other materials to help me on the next stage of my journey. I don’t think I have necessarily lost focus but that focus has been difficult to keep an eye on in a patch of fog. I’ve had to get out my metaphorical compass and make sure I’m still travelling in the right direction.

That direction is to get myself in the best position to help others.