In this instructional video, Natalie Fisher presents a systematic approach to handling conflicting priorities, especially for job interview scenarios. She introduces a set of eleven questions designed to help viewers decide which task should take precedence. The first four questions assess basic factors: estimated time required, delegability, urgency (deadline), and monetary value to the company. If these do not resolve the conflict, she adds seven deeper questions that consider customer billing/value, the number of people affected, overall organizational impact, whether the issue is an immediate fire, the time needed to resolve, and the possibility of recruiting help from other departments. Fisher emphasizes that escalating to a manager should be a last resort, not the first step, and that managers provide guidance rather than step‑by‑step instructions. Throughout, she challenges a comment suggesting that organized, delegated individuals would never face simultaneous problems, noting that real‑world environments (parenting, fast‑paced work) make such conflicts inevitable. The video concludes with a call to action, offering a free guide with templates and encouraging viewers to like, subscribe, and explore related content.
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So you want to know how to answer how to handle conflicting priorities and be able to sound like a master at handling more than one thing at a time. Well, you are in the right place. In this video, I'm going to give you 11 questions that you can ask to decide what's going to come first. So by the end of this video, you're going to have really clear criteria on what you should do and how to decide what comes first. So stay tuned. Okay, so quick story. So someone commented on one of my old blog posts and I wrote about conflicting priorities and this is what they said. They said, if you were someone who is organized and delegated, you would not have had 2 problems arise together. To immediately cry to your boss and for them to be the one who actually resolves the situation for you is a double concern. would certainly not use that as an example to a prospective employer. Okay, so clearly that person has never been a parent or worked in a fast-paced environment. However, I do agree with them on the first one. Going to your boss should not be the first thing that you do. However, you, no matter who you are, just can't plan for everything. No one can. That's how life So here are the first four questions to ask yourself before you get stuck on what should be next. First question: How long will each task priority take you? Two, can you delegate? Can you get help with some of the pieces from the task from any of your coworkers? Three, how urgent is the priority? Is there a clear deadline for each of them? Four, how much money is each priority worth to the company. Then if you've already asked those questions and you're still stuck, I'm going to walk through 7 questions that are going to clarify even further. So say you're trying to decide between which customer comes first. Now some of you may argue with me here, but it's how it is. Who's the customer with the highest billings? Who has the highest customer value? Second, how many people are affected by each priority? What's the greatest impact and on how many people? What has the greatest impact on the organization as a whole? Is something on fire right now? Needs to be dealt with immediately in the next 2 minutes? How long is it gonna take? And can you recruit help from another department? So once you've assessed all of those questions, then you can go to your boss. I stand by the advice I— in my earlier post. Your boss is there to help and support. They're going to give you guidance. They're not there to give you step-by-step instructions, but they are there to guide you. So if you're really struggling to decide which items should take priority and you've asked all the questions and you're still not sure, then ask them. However, I do want to be clear that it's not the first thing you should do, and it's never the only way that you should have to solve a problem. And there we have it. I hope this has been way more comprehensive on how to handle conflicting priorities without going to your boss. Please let me know if you enjoyed it. So if you like this video, give me a thumbs up. If you didn't like it, give me a thumbs down. To watch another video like this one in this series, click here. To watch another video from me, click here. If you enjoyed what you got in this video, I also have a free guide. It's chock-full of examples, fill-in-the-blank answers, as well as questions you can ask yourself to come up with your own stories. So if you're interested in that, it's absolutely free. You can grab it below, and I will see you in the next video. Thank you so much for watching. Bye! Okay, now I'm tired. The end.
