Make priorities cost something

Why this rule exists

A priority that costs nothing to declare isn't a priority; it's a wish. When everything is important, your team quietly decides for themselves what to drop, usually under pressure and without your context. Real prioritization means naming what you will not do, or will do later, so that the top of the list actually gets protected attention. Saying 'this is our focus' while adding three more focuses teaches people to ignore the word. The discipline is subtraction, and subtraction is uncomfortable, which is exactly why it signals you mean it.