This month, I have been focusing on finding new ways to prioritize time. I have found some neat little tools to help organize and prioritize in a way that leaves me most productive. One of the systems that I am a big fan of is the ABC system.

This system does an awesome job of keeping me focused on the things that really matter and puts the smaller, less important stuff on the back-burner. I find that, with this system, I tend to be less wasteful with my time. I spend less time doing the unnecessary tasks and more time tackling the important things.

“Here’s how it works. Prioritize everything as A, B or C, as follows:

Priority A: Critical things. Anything that has to be done right away or something important will go terribly wrong.

Priority B: Business as usual. Everything you have to do to meet your short- and long-term business and career goals.

Priority C: Everything else. Busy work, organizing, wants (as opposed to needs), nice to haves, and goofing off (95% of what you do online).

I spend all my time on B-list activities, except forPriority A interrupts, which come up from time to time and always go to the top of the priority list. And I never start on C-list activities until all the B work is done which, for the most part, is never.

That’s the beauty of the system. You actually never get to the Priority C tasks. In fact, this system forces you to be very clear on your goals because anything that doesn’t play a significant role in helping you achieve them gets pushed to the C list.

Using this basic system, all the mission critical work always gets done in a timely manner. Of course, if you’re a hard-working overachiever like me, you sometimes have to work longer hours to get things done. But that just comes with the territory. Besides, if it’s not super critical (Priority A), there’s always tomorrow.”

Citation: “The Secret to Prioritizing Your Time.” Entrepreneur. N.p., 14 Feb. 2014. Web. 02 Aug. 2016.