If You Don't Set Priorities, Life Will Set Them for You

Gerardo Herrero Morales International Negotiation Instructor | Entrepreneur | Director of Training and Strategic Consulting March 15, 2017

Many years ago, I took a Diploma in International Business and Competitiveness with consultant Engineer Francisco Ortiz Flores (who would have been about 65 years old at the time). He told us that when he was studying for his master's degree in the United States, he was sent to the Korean War for an administrative position.

Amidst all the drama, one day he observed a Korean family walking through a minefield "in single file" - 3 children (one small, one large, and one medium-sized), the father and the mother, all separated by 20 meters from one another. Each family member watched where the person in front had stepped to step in exactly the same spot and avoid a fatal explosion.

The question here is: Who went first and why? a) The father first b) The oldest child first c) The mother first d) The youngest child first e) The middle child first

The next question is: who went second, third, fourth, and last?

Give it deep thought before answering.

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Answer: What happened in real life is that the mother went first, then the youngest child, then the middle child, then the oldest child, and finally the father. The Korean parents had to negotiate priorities. They were in a war context. The issue wasn't about machismo. Either parent - the father or the mother - would have gladly sacrificed their life for their children. The family, and even the city, had a better chance of survival if the father was protected. What would have happened if the family, even in that drama, hadn't sat down to establish priorities? They would have simply entered the minefield together, and a single explosion could have killed or mutilated several of them, not just one. Therefore, if you don't set priorities in everything, life simply punishes us by imposing the ones it chooses or bringing us chaos as a response.