by David P Allen

Created on: April 10, 2009

How To Make A Workable Project List

Have you ever tried to make a list of projects and ended up with so many items that you couldn't decide where to start so you hid it away in your desk drawer having decided that your old muddled way was best after all?

Have you ever made a list, of urgent things to do, started on the first item only to discover when you were half way through the project that you didn't have everything you needed to complete it? Did you ever start on a project that you thought was urgent and after spending a lot of precious time getting things together realised that some other project was even more urgent? So how do you make a workable project list? How do you start and how can you tell which is the most urgent item?

Your first step is to get yourself a large pad of paper a ballpoint pen and three colored markers, one red one green and one blue.

Next you need to realise that making a list takes time and mental energy. So before you start making your list you should make yourself comfortable and give yourself plenty of time. It's best to allow yourself at least one hour when you first start using this system. The more you practice through the less time you should need.

Now when you have got yourself nice and comfortable maybe taken the phone off the hook and switched your cell phone off, take your pad and your pen and write down everything you have to, need to, want to, would like to do.

Next study your list with the aim of picking out the items that you consider most urgent and important. Now after you decided which are the most urgent and important items take your red marker and write a nice capital 'A' alongside those items.

Study your list again but this time your aim is to pick out the items you consider are important but not urgent. Then take your green marker and write 'B' alongside these items. These are the projects you will tackle after you have completed your 'A' list.

Finally take your blue marker and mark everything else on your list with a capital'C'. These are the items you have decided are not important or urgent. Some of these projects you will probably never do or need to do.

Now take a clean sheet of paper and on it write down all the items you marked with 'A'. Next go down through your 'A' list and decide which is the number one urgent and important item. When you have decided on number one take your pen and number it '1'. Now after you decide which is the next most urgent and important item number that '2'. Go own down through each item deciding and numbering in order of priority until you have numbered them all. This is your 'A' list and every item on it is urgent and important.

So which project do you start first? Well logically, this should be number one on your 'A' list but before you plunge in you need to ask yourself a very important question and that is "do I have everything I need to start this project and bring it to a successful conclusion?" If you can answer "yes to this question project one is where you start. If your answer is "no" then you have to choose either stopping right there or keep going down your list asking the question until you can answer "yes". This will now become your number one project

One final thought when you eventually start your number one project try and forget everything else until you have completed it. Because despite what some people say we really can only do one thing successfully at a time. The important thing is knowing which thing to do.

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