Once you’ve created your to-do list, the items on it should be prioritized. Ideally, when the items reach your to-do list they should already have a priority based upon the priority of the projects or goals they are related to. If, however, you don’t have that system in place yet, look at the items on your to-do list and assign a priority to each. I recommend the ABC method when it comes to prioritizing.
Of course a top priority or something that is very important would be an “A” task. Things that have serious negative consequences fall under this category.
A “B” priority is considered important-not as important as an “A” task. There are only minor negative consequences for not completing it.
“C” priorities are things that would be nice to do, of course, not as important as A&B priorities and there aren’t any negative consequences for not completing them.
You can even take it a step farther. Look at all of you’re a tasks and assign numbers to them so that you end up with A1, A2, etc. Anything beyond a “C” priority is something that can be “D”, delegated or “E”, eliminated altogether. Things beyond a “C” priority are not worth your precious time.
As I mentioned, ideally, tasks have a priority when they reach your to-do list based upon the project or goal they are associated with. When you initially add or begin planning for a project its priority should be assigned at that time. This way, related tasks already have a priority when they filter down to your to-do list and it has you scheduling priorities instead of prioritizing your schedule. Two very distinct things. Scheduling your priorities will save you time and increase your productivity.
In my next post I’ll share information on using you daily to-do list.