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The ABC of It

Written by: Donald F. Pooley

Article Overview: Most things we deal with in life can be divided into three categories such as: big, medium, small; or important, so-so, unimportant.

The ABC of It

Most things we deal with in life can be divided into three categories such as: big, medium, small; or important, so-so, unimportant.
I think of this view of things as "the A-B-C of it". A is the important stuff, B is less so, and C is not important.
This is a simple way of dividing what we do, or plan to do. And, because it's simple, it's easy to put into practice.
For example, consider the to-do list you made today. As you look it over you may be thinking "I'll never get through all this in one day!" And you're probably right.
So, divide up the tasks by marking the most important with an A, the least important with a C, and the others with a B.
Now forget about B and C until you've completed all the As.
Then work on the Bs. If you don't know which of the Bs to do first you can subdivide them into a, b, and c tasks.
At the end of the day you've done the most important stuff, and anything you didn't have time to do is an unimportant C.
I used to prioritize with numbers, and would get hung up on whether a particular task should be one number higher than another, or not. These subtle decisions wasted my time, so I switched to categorizing things as A, B, or C.
Why does this work?
We're human, and when we're unorganized we do the easy or pleasurable things first with no consideration for their importance. And easy, pleasurable things are usually Cs--- the least important.
So we fritter away our most limited asset, time, doing things that divert us from our main purpose.
Did you read your email this morning? Is it an A, B, or C activity? Did you do any prospecting today? Is it an A, B, or C activity?
Look at everything you did today and classify each activity as A, B, or C. Did you complete all the A activities? Did you spend time on some C activities that would have been better spent on As or Bs?
If you were to do this for a month, and only completed your A activities, would you be closer to achieving your goals?
If so, do it!

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