The Power of Primacy

"We're number one!" or "You are number one in my life!" are pretty significant statements to make. The first means we are better than everyone else and the second means a person is the most important person in your life. Oddly enough, just being better and being more important is not what ultimately drives how we feel, think and act. Being better and being important might be necessary to influence what we do, but it is NOT sufficient.



In the movie Rudy we see a young man dreaming to play football at Notre Dame from his earliest memories. Yet, he took no action toward that dream for 22 years. You may really love your child, but when they lose their cell phone, you get very upset. Worse, when you lose your own cell phone, you yell at others as if its their fault (sometimes).

What's behind this behavior that isn't influneced totally but what you value? Its a word that motivational scholars know well but many people don't. It's called "saliency." Something is salient if it gets your attention. It may be good, but not the best for you. It may be important but not the most important, BUT it has your attention. It is salient to you.

Another term you may be more familiar with that means the same as salient is "primacy." Something has primacy for you if it is what you think about first, not what is most important or best. You may value good health a lot but a bowl of ice cream put in front of you may take primacy in your thinking and its all you can think about until you finally eat it. A young person may value sexual purity but put in a situation where sexual activity has primacy, it is likely to lead to action in a way that feels good but is not best.

What we set our mind on takes primacy in how we feel and then what we do.

This is not new. It is not a discovery of modern psychology. Thousands of years ago we were told

"Seek ye first ...... and things will follow." 

Primacy, what has your attention? The trick for an abundant and virtuous life is to make the things that are the most important also the things that have primacy. Only then is "the urgent"not a "tyrant."

Certainly worth pondering .......