Comments on: A New Emotionally-Based Way Of Prioritizing Your Task list

By: Best Goal Setting and Personal Productivity Articles from May 2008 » Persistence Unlimited - Goal Setting Blog

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:46:07 +0000

[...] A New Emotionally-Based Way Of Prioritizing Your Task list – This is a creative new way for managing your tasks. I find that every now and again taking a fresh look with a new technique spurs my motivation. [...]

By: Luke

Luke — Sat, 24 May 2008 19:40:36 +0000

Generally, this approach is right, but there is also evolving a new chaotic approach - do what you really like to do... It sounds crazy, but look around you - many people operate using this approach and they are quite successful. There is always some to pick those small tasks you do not want to do /and you should do/. Lukes last blog post..Interviewing a wrong person

By: James

James — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:44:23 +0000

Thanks for mentioning my post! I agree that you can have A = "need to do" and B = "should do" if you prefer. However I like to use the actual words because it really emphasizes what that priority actually means. If someone else looks at the list they understand exactly what it means. They wouldn't necessarily understand A, B and C. The benefit of my approach (as I see it) is how to takes time into account. Under a traditional prioritizing scheme, paying a bill would immediately be an high priority. High priority or not, in my system it emphases the fact you don't have to pay it there and then. Because of that you can control how many high priority tasks you have, spread them out over time and even pre-empt tasks by acting on them when are at the "should do" level (essentially doing the important/not urgent work in the 7 Habits methodology). There is a lot more I can potentially write about this. I'm going to give it some more thought and do another blog post in the near future. Thanks for your feedback! Jamess last blog post..Organize IT Recap: Investing, Writing Binding Contracts

By: Brad Isaac

Brad Isaac — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:47:52 +0000

Rod, I’m with you, I see A as being critical must do’s B’s as like to do and C’s as want to do’s. In fact, I learned the ABC method from Franklin covey and they state that the C’s are stuff you want to do. But I’d still like to see how James gets a handle on each task under the categories.

By: Shamelle

Shamelle — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:18:58 +0000

I love your posts simplicity. Sometimes it is difficult to "clear cut" the boundaries :-) Shamelles last blog post..6 Things Simon Cowell (Of American Idol) Would Say About Your Blog!

By: Rod2020

Rod2020 — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:32:00 +0000

Brad, I don’t see these classifications as mutually exclusive – I use the ABCDE method – A is the need to/must do, B is the ought to/should do, C is the want/nice to do. D is delegate, and E is eliminate.

The great thing about using the ABCDE system is, as you say, you can subcategorize them into 123, etc, so that you have as detailed a priority list as you could possibly want. Do the A’s first or the boss is going to be breathing down your neck (or worse), and do them in 123 order. If you get to the B’s, great (do in the 123 order). If not, reprioritize for the next day (they will still be there unless you assign them to E).

Also, remember that if you do the ABCDE system first, you will have reduced the task list substantially. You can just call those first three whatever you want. Oh, and if you are lucky enough to have so few tasks that you can’t prioritize them, group them all together as just plain old A’s.