In this talk, Patrick Mosher shares his personal productivity system for reducing the mental load of unfinished tasks, which he calls "parked priorities." He begins by describing his weekly habit of processing his email inbox down to a single screen, tracking his success with a red‑yellow‑green spreadsheet. He then explains the concept of parked priorities, borrowing from 1990s re‑engineering practices that view piles of unfinished work as inefficiency. Mosher lists common examples of such piles—unanswered emails, un‑followed‑up business cards, purchased but unused courses, promised‑to‑stay‑in‑touch contacts, unread books, saved files, bookmarked pages, unused clothes, and stored items. He offers a four‑step framework to handle any pile: Do (break into small, actionable chunks), Defer (schedule with a deadline and time block, adjusting time if missed), Delegate (assign to trusted others with clear direction), and Delete (remove or discard items that no longer serve you). Each step is illustrated with anecdotes and practical tips. Finally, he challenges listeners to pick one pile this week, apply the framework, and experience the freedom of reduced mental weight.
Chapters
I have a goal every week to process my emails down to one screen. I track my success on a spreadsheet, of course, which I mark as red, yellow, and green. Happy to say I am green every week. So here's what I do. Step 1: I look at the emails and delete junk or ones that don't need any attention. Step 2: I move low-priority emails into folders. Step 3, the remaining emails are the ones requiring my mindshare, usually decisions, so I leave them to process later. Step 4? Yeah, that's the point. There is no step 4. I rarely go back to the emails requiring my attention. Delayed decisions don't get done. Done. Want to know how I plow through the piles of parked priorities? In the 1990s, there was a craze that took the corporate world by storm called re-engineering. As an engineer and consultant, I dove deep into the concepts and integrated many of the practices into my life that I use today. One of those concepts was to watch out for piles of things. I would walk through a manufacturing plant and look for piles of things. Unfinished goods piled in front of a machine, paperwork stacked in someone's in-basket, finished goods on the dock waiting to be shipped. Piles of things was an indicator of inefficiency. It was an opportunity to streamline. My parked emails is a clear indicator of an inefficiency screaming for streamlining. So I started brainstorming the piles of priorities I had in my life. Yikes. Do you want to hear my list? Okay, here's a warning. Reviewing a list of parked priorities may damage your positive outlook for the day. So take my advice. Before you go through the list, take a deep breath. And when I read a parked pile with which you resonate, put a smile on your face and say aloud, "That's me." That's right, own your parked priorities. Afterwards, I'll give you 4 steps to process those parked priorities. So here goes my list: emails not responded to, business cards collected with no follow-up, online courses purchased and never taken, past clients you promised to stay in touch with, friends you promised to stay in touch with, books bought and never read, files—paper and electronic—you just you might reuse someday. Web pages stored in favorites and never reviewed. Clothes saved for the day when you can fit back into them. Attics and storage units are physical manifestations of parked priorities. Do you got any more? Send them along to me and let's create a big list of parked priorities. Okay, so now you are absolutely ecstatic about your piles of parked priorities Congratulations. Here are 4 simple practices to process your piles of parked priorities. Do, defer, delegate, and delete. Let's start with do. When I worked in corporate consulting, we produced roadmaps of hundreds of initiatives thinking we were impressing our clients, and they were usually just overwhelmed. I extracted 3 to 5 initiatives from the roadmap and called them Do nows. To climb a big mountain, you have to take the first step. So make the first step easy. Break down piles of parked priorities into chewable chunks. 2, defer. Now, defer is tricky because this is what got you in trouble in the first place, right? We keep kicking that can down the road and never pick it up. Here's the trick to deferring priorities. Defer with a deadline. When you defer something, schedule a time by when it'll get done. Even better, schedule a time block to get it done. For example, schedule 45 minutes every day to process 100% of your emails. If you miss a day, well, then add 15 minutes to the next day. Now, did you catch the math on that? When you defer, always increase your speed and efficiency. Okay, delegate. A fellow executive once told me she received 35 emails an hour. Wow. She had to delegate her emails to her executive assistant or she would be chasing everyone else's agenda instead of doing her job. It's a novel idea, but when I tried it, it was tougher than I thought. Giving my emails to my executive assistant was like taking ice cream from a kid. Delegation requires a level of trust, clear direction, and a large dose of letting go. One of the greatest teachers of our time, Stephen Covey, shot a video on delegation called Green and Clean. Look it up. Delegate responsibilities, not tasks. And finally, delete. Clothes you don't fit into, but you're saving for that magic day. Toss. Books you bought 5 years ago that you haven't read? Sell. Kids' clothes and toys you've been saving, but you won't have any more kids? Donate. C-priority emails you've saved to respond to someday? Delete. You might be surprised at the weight you lift when you remove them. Delete with delicacy and delight. Do, defer, delegate, delete. 4 simple steps to process your piles of parked priorities. Here's your challenge. Plan to do, defer, delegate, or delete one pile of parked priorities this week. When you finish that one, well, move to the next one. When you let go of heavy things, you will move faster. Feel the freedom and live 100% empowered.
