30 Jan The Art of Prioritizing

Not sure how to prioritize your to-dos? Try these different strategies to find your ideal approach.

ABCDE Method
Write down all tasks and categorize them in the following way:
• A tasks are those with major consequences if you fail to do them. Do these first.
• B tasks are those with minor consequences if you fail to do them. Don’t start until you finish A tasks.
• C tasks are tasks with no consequences if you fail to do them. Don’t start until you finish B tasks.
• D tasks are those you can delegate.
• E tasks are those you can eliminate.

Eat the Frog Method
Mark Twain once said, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
Tackle the most formidable tasks first.

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix Method
Separate tasks based on whether they are important, urgent, both, or neither.
• Do important and urgent tasks first.
• Schedule important, but not urgent, tasks next.
• Delegate urgent but unimportant tasks like e-mails and phone calls, if possible.
• Eliminate tasks that are neither urgent nor important.

—Tamara E. Holmes