My Most Recent Kick…Task Prioritization

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Lately I have been on a kick of thinking about the types of tasks I should be working on to create long term benefits in my life. The book “Procrastinate on Purpose” by Rory Vaden is what started it.

Rory’s philosophy is to put all of your tasks through a funnel to determine what will create long lasting change in life. Here is a picture of the funnel:

The boiled down version of this funnel is to ask yourself a series of questions to determine which tasks are most important to complete and which ones are really just “noise’ in your day.

The first portion: Eliminate. Does this really need to be done? An example of this would be scrolling through junk email/click bait. If it doesnt need to be done, throw it out. Get rid of it

Second Portion: Automate. Is there technology out there that can do this automatically? An example of this would be automatic bill pay. If you like to pay bills, good for you. But I don’t. Why do this task each month if I don’t get enjoyment out of it and it can be automated.

Third Portion: Delegate. If the task can’t be eliminated and it can’t be automated, delegate it. Nobody needs an explanation of what delegation is. I don’t like doing laundry, so I delegate it to my lovely fiancee…Just kidding. I will find out if she actually reads my blog

Fourth Portion: Concentrate or Procrastinate. If you cant eliminate, automate, or delegate, the next decision is to do it now or push it off. Many tasks will go through the funnel several times before you decide you can eliminate it. That’s OK. Once you decide this task is something only you can do at this period in time and it’s important and creates long lasting value in your relationship, life, business, health, etc. Get it DONE. Concentrate and Focus.

That’s my quick and dirty summary of Rory’s Funnel. Another portion worth mentioning is this is like the 3rd dimension to Steven Covey’s 7 habits urgency/importance quadrant. Urgency, importance, and longevity.

I am attempting to work on things that don’t need to happen RIGHT NOW, but are IMPORTANT, and will make a difference for years to come.

Here’s a link to the book if you want to check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Procrastinate-on-Purpose-audiobook/dp/B00RV58ZFO

Till next time…Could be tomorrow or next year 🙂