What's Stopping You?: Why Smart People Don't Always Reach Their Potential, and How You Can

Prioritization and Efficiency

This feeds into Tracy’s thinking on prioritization – offering a tip that can easily be added to your to-do list or checklist or to Covey’s timetable. He calls it the “ABCs of Success” although also adds D and E. His suggestion is that you categorize your to-do list with an ABCD or E. An “A” task is one that you must complete as soon as possible or “face serious consequences”. “B” items are important tasks that carry “mild consequences”. “C” tasks are nice to do but with “no consequences”, “D” tasks can be delegated (see Part Four) and “E” tasks should be eliminated. Of course, the stressed person may be tempted to load their tasks with “A” and “B” labels, which Tracy says is fine – “simply number them sequentially ...