Get Everything Done

Marco:

I read a book this summer called "Decide" by Steve McClatchy. The key idea that stood out for me is his prioritization method. He took the classic "ABC" prioritizing method, questioned its effectiveness, and changed it to:

A: Gain Tasks (Don't "Have-To")

B: Prevent Pain Tasks (Recorded "Have-To")

C: Prevent Pain Tasks ("Have-To")


So a list like:

Mow lawn for wife
Laundry
Tea
Email
Buy new phone
Breakfast for kids
Write 2 pages for screenplay
Zip lining?
Study russian
Pay Visa bill


Becomes:

A: Gain Tasks
Study russian
Write 2 pages for screenplay
Zip lining?
Tea

B: Prevent Pain (Recorded "Have-To")
Pay visa bill
Breakfast for kids
Mow lawn for wife

C: Prevent Pain ("Have-To")
Buy new phone
Laundry
Email

Gain Tasks (Results, Progress, Life Improvement, Connecting):
Gain tasks move your life in the direction you want it to go. Gain tasks improve your life and make it better. They prevent burnout, ruts and the feeling of being out of balance. They also give you the energy necessary to execute all the prevent pain tasks in less time.


Attributes of Gain Tasks:
• Never Urgent
• Don’t “Have-To” Do Them
• Produce Significant Results or Progress
• They Keep You Balanced
• You Can’t Delegate Them


Prevent Pain Tasks:
Prevent pain tasks only produce significant results when you *don’t* do them. They help you to maintain your life, not make your life better. They maintain the status quo. If neglected, they would eventually be brought to your attention by someone else.


Attributes of Prevent Pain Tasks:
• Eventually Become Urgent
• “Have-To” Do Them
• Keep You Where You Are
• They Can Burn You Out
• You Can Delegate Them


Two Priority Levels of Prevent Pain Tasks:
"B" tasks are recorded by other people
“C” tasks will be brought to your attention if you don’t do them, but no one is keeping a written record


So it's:

A: Gain
B: Prevent Pain (Recorded "Have-To")
C: Prevent Pain ("Have-To")

Or:

A: Improvement
B: Maintenance (Recorded)
C: Maintenance

Or:

A: Leading
B: Managing (Recorded)
C: Managing

Mark:

From what I recall, he suggests doing at least one "A" task per day. The sentiment seemed to be that you really haven't made anything happen unless you have done an "A" task. You have instead only prevented things from happening if you complete all your "B" and "C" tasks. A lot of people rush around doing things to "prevent pain", and yet they are essentially standing in place as far as their life's progress is concerned if they neglect the "A" tasks.

FV basically covers everything from the Gain/Prevent Pain ABC method, and with lower overhead than the system described in the book.

At some point during the day with FV, one will likely have actioned multiple "gain tasks" that have reached the root position. And the "prevent pain tasks" will have been actioned in order of urgency.