Plentiful Prioritising = Prioritising well = Coming up with double the number of ideas you need and going with the top half.

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By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.

Reading time: 3 mins

Summary: Prioritise well by having double the number of ideas you can implement and then going with the top half AKA Plentiful Prioritising. If you don’t have plentiful ideas (eg 2x the number you need) then it’s very hard to prioritise well. 

  • Jingle: If a good life is the outcome of good decisions, then plentiful prioritising isn’t pointless, it’s key to pointing less in the wrong direction!


One version of problem solving ≈ Prioritising well

  • Let’s say you have the space to do three things, which three things do you do?

  • My rule of thumb is that you should come up with double the number of ideas as you have the ability to do, then prioritise them top to bottom. 

  • It’s very possible that #4 could well be #3, but highly unlikely that #6 should be #1. 

  • If you have double the number of ideas you have the ability to do, it’s highly likely you have prioritised well.

Having excess ideas = Plentiful Prioritising = Increased chance of prioritising well. 

  • If you have space for 5 things then try to come up with 10 ideas. Etc. 


Problem solving is not going with the first idea that comes to mind

  • L0: Going with the first idea you come up with. 

  • L1: Not knowing how many ideas you can implement and EG stretching out 2 ideas to fill the space of 3 ideas

  • L2: Coming up with only 3 ideas when you have the space to do 3 ideas. How do you know if these ideas are any good?

  • L3: Prioritising well by coming up with 6 ideas when you have the space to do 3 ideas, prioritising the ideas and going with the best 3 AKA coming up with double the number of ideas you have space for AKA Plentiful Prioritising. 

  • L4: L3 + using a model to prioritise - link


A more detailed model of a way to problem solve


Example 1 - Email drip feed campaign

  • Let’s say you are wanting to set up an email drip feed campaign to activate users. 

  • You decide that you want to have a set of 5 emails, one per week for 5 weeks. 

  • What do you have each of the 5 emails be? 

  • One approach is to come up with 10 ideas (double the number you have space for AKA Plentiful Prioritising) and then prioritise them from best to worst. Pick the best 5 and implement. 


Example 2 - Maths textbook

  • Let’s say a maths period is 50 minutes long, so you have 50 minutes of content to fill. 

  • L0: Just go with the first thing you come up with. 

  • L1: Coming up with 2 ideas that take up 30 mins of time. But, a period is 50 mins long, so you stretch out these ideas to fill 50 mins. 

  • L2: Coming up with 50 mins of ideas for 50 mins of learning time. 

  • L3: Coming up with 100 mins of ideas and then picking the best 50 mins of ideas. 

  • L4: 

    • Building a model: I think you want to come up with a ‘High resolution destination’ of where you hope to get students to (this is part of building a model to prioritise which ideas are best). Then you want to figure out a starting point and the optimal journey from starting point to destination. 

    • From here you try to map the excess ideas you have and how they work with the model optimally. 

    • EG Option A should get 50% of students to the destination. Option B should get 75% of students to the destination. As such you propose going with Option B. 


If you only take away one thing

  • In the past I’ve spent too much time trying to make individual ideas better when in fact I should have been looking for better ideas. 

  • Outcome = Macro Idea Quality * How well you can execute on the Macro Idea

    • Ultimately both are important, but don’t underinvest in finding quality Macro Ideas. 

    • One strategy I have for finding quality Macro Ideas is Plentiful Prioritising.