I was recently chatting to a guy who was complaining that his task list was so long that he couldn’t even work out where to start from. He had all the tasks in Excel but just couldn’t figure out what to do first. Nothing had due dates, just he knew they all needed doing “at some point”.
We had a long chat and I gave him a simple algorithm to help get started.
Algorithm 1.0
- First, prioritise each task with a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being vital and 5 being “whenever”
- Next, give each task a difficulty rating of 1 to 5, 1 being easy and 5 being mega tough.
- Finally, sort by priority then by difficulty.
You will end up with a list a bit like this
| Task | Priority (1=Highest) | Difficulty (5=Hardest) |
| Get the kids bags sorted | 1 | 1 |
| Fix iPad | 1 | 5 |
| Paint the Fence | 2 | 2 |
| Learn new song | 3 | 2 |
| Tidy wiring in living room | 3 | 3 |
| Wash the windows | 4 | 3 |
| Mow the lawn | 5 | 1 |
| Create an app | 5 | 5 |
Then, what you are looking for is a “quick win”. Look for the task that has the highest priority with the lowest difficulty, in this case, “Get the kids bags sorted”. This is an easy job that is very important and will get you started. The first step of any journey is always the most difficult and all that jazz.
