Prioritizing

Good or bad?

In order of priority
1. Do the minimum to make sure your needs are met.
2. Minimize your needs.
3. Get enough understanding of the world around you to make good decisions about your goals.
4. Ensure that your goals are ideal relative to your understanding.
5. Work toward your goals with all your effort.

needs == requirements
goals == deliverables

At some point your understanding is good enough (at #3) and you have to act.  If you aren't happy with your goals then perhaps your understanding is not good enough and your goal should be to improve your understanding enough to make good enough goals.  But as soon as you can make concrete goals that are good enough then move on to #4 and #5.

For any of the activities, the preceding activities will be happening continually.  For instance, as you work on your goals you will still be taking the time to meet your needs.  Even more important to recognize, as you work on your goals (and really as you simply live your life) you will be increasing your understanding (#3).

So as you live your understanding will be increasing and you have to take the time to use that understanding in all your other activities.  However, taking care of your needs takes precedence over any active pursuit of understanding.  The nice thing is that the more you understand, the more effective you will be at acting within the context of that understanding.