|
ABC |
Task List |
|
B4 |
Schedule appointment for a haircut
|
|
A5 |
Get snacks for tonight's party |
|
A3 |
Go to the gym to workout |
|
C3 |
Check e-mail |
|
B3 |
Send thank you letter to job interview
of last week |
|
C4 |
Go to the mall to look for some
new jeans |
|
C5 |
Play Nintendo with Eric |
|
A2 |
Go to the eye doctor's appointment
|
|
A4 |
Meditate for 15 minutes |
|
A1 |
Study for tomorrow's math test |
|
B2 |
Study for next week's history test
|
|
C2 |
Make appointment with a counselor
to decide on a major at school |
|
B1 |
Call players on intramural team
about next week's game |
|
C1 |
Write a letter to parents |
What you have just done is determine the order you will do the
things you want to do based on their relative value to you.
You are determining the sequence of the events of your day.
You have begun to gain control of your day.
A word of warning must be included here if you want to make this
work effectively. There is a very
real human tendency to skip the most valuable and important things
(the “A” items on the list) and move to those items
that are easier, more fun, or less demanding (the “B”
and “C” items on the list). There are a couple natural
consequences for doing this.
First, and most notably, many of your important items will turn
into very urgent items. If you put off working on the research
paper until a couple days before it is due, then you are in the
panic mode and the quality of your paper will probably go down
dramatically. You will probably not enjoy working on it, as well.
This is called “putting out the fires.” It is the
urgency mode. Stress levels definitely increase when we operate
in this mode.
The other consequence of doing the “B” and “C”
items first and putting off the “A” items is inner
chaos. When we do the things that are most important to us, we
experience inner peace because what we do and what we value are
aligned. When we don't do those things that are aligned with what
we value, we lose our inner peace. It is a natural consequence.
On most days, you won't finish
everything that you put on your list.
In fact, you rarely do. You may have classes, meetings, work
obligations, and interruptions that may drastically reduce the
amount of free time that you can work on the things on your list.
The real value of this system happens when we do have periods
of free time where we can choose between several activities. It
is in those parts of the day that we ought to go to the top of
our list, our A1 item, and work from there.
This method of planning can be a very effective way to get some
control over the events of your life, especially if you aren't
currently doing anything to plan your days and feel quite overwhelmed.
Wave after wave keeps hitting you and throwing you to the floor
– not a good feeling.
By using the
ABC123 method, you can gain some of that control back and
ride the waves instead of constantly feeling like you are being
pummeled by them.
A simple adaptation of the ABC123 method is to start each day
by making a list of the six most important things you want to
accomplish that day.
With careful thought, this one simple action can help relieve
your stress and free your mind to focus on what is most important
to you.
