I use the ABCDE prioritization method from Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. I like it because it is simple and it works. You break your tasks down into these groups:

A Tasks – Tasks you must do.

B Tasks – Tasks you should do.

C Tasks – Tasks you could do.

D Tasks – Tasks you can delegate.

E Tasks – Tasks you can eliminate.

You then take your A1 task (most important) and work on it till it’s done. Then do the same with your A2 task and so on.

Since I’ve started doing this, my productivity has increased substantially. My C tasks rarely get done and I don’t care because more of my A tasks are getting done.

I’m by no means perfect, but this is a nice tool. Especially if you combine it with this question: “What would God want me to do next?”

Reader Stories

Annabella from Pen & Ink shared her method for prioritization in the comments:

“I will highlight things in red that are urgent to get done, yellow for things that aren’t critical but I still need to do, and green for optional things. ”

This is a color-coded way of separating tasks into Must/Should/Could categories. My only addition would be to make sure that red tasks (must do) are both urgent and important. I’m sure this is included in her system, but I wanted to mention that for others that want to do the same.

Josh