Survival in the wild world of procrastination: my killer prioritization system
Start every morning by hunting whales. This is the only way to survive in the primitive world of procrastination.
Eisenhower Matrix
I am an active user of the personal productivity management service Todoist (karma rating of 81,024, if that tells you anything). Todoist has its own four-tiered task prioritization system based on the popular Eisenhower Matrix.
It places tasks in one of the quadrants along the "important" and "urgent" axes. You can read more about it here, but the gist is that important and urgent tasks should be done first, and "unimportant-not urgent" tasks should not be done at all.
I worked in the same prioritization paradigm for a long time, but at some point I realized that it was no longer relevant to me. When you get rid of fast-food tasks - which improve the Todoist karma but do not bring any significant benefit - you realize that all tasks for the day are important.
So important that if you don't complete them, you can "die."
It is the "killer" nature of tasks, or rather the lethality of procrastination, that is the main criterion and basis of the framework I have called KYIV. And why not? As you may have guessed, KYIV is an abbreviation. There is an animal behind each letter. Killer whale, Yak, Iguana, and Viper. Each of these creatures is capable of killing you in real life. What does this mean in the language of task prioritization?
K (Killer Whale)
It's very simple. It's deadly simple. If you do not complete this task, it will "kill" you. No chance. This task cannot be postponed, cannot be moved. It has to be done here and now. The good news is that if you get through it, the other levels of difficulty are much easier. That's why at the end of the week I count the killer whales I've caught. Sometimes I add yaks.
Y (Yak)
Basically, this is a calm creature. You have time to deal with the killer whale. But once it sees the blood of a killer whale, that's it, the countdown timer is on. It is almost impossible to escape. Such tasks need to be done immediately after killer whales. You can postpone it once, but it's better not to carry it over to the next day. Don't fall asleep in the forest with leftover yaks.
I (Iguana)
Have you figured out whales and yaks? Breathe out. Calm down. At first, you don't even notice the iguana, you don't see it as a threat against the first two. But it is a very agile animal. If you hesitate, it will catch up with you. At night, the iguana sleeps (you can reschedule it for the next day), but the next morning it will be one step closer to you.
V (Viper)
Still a deadly threat. It is quite easy to escape from it, or rather, to avoid it. But if you do it for an infinitely long time, it will suddenly bite you because you will forget about it and just step on it.
To summarize
The Killer whale tasks (the first priority) are the most important things you need to get done in a day. Everything else comes later. These tasks cannot be moved even during the day. If you get it right, you will survive. No more than one killer whale per day. Just don't call a dolphin a killer whale, don't fool yourself.
Example: Board of Directors of a startup
The Yak tasks (the second priority) are also extremely dangerous. Especially in a pack. Three yaks are the optimal target for a hunter for the day. A worthy prey. Such tasks can be moved around during the day to create a convenient schedule, but cannot be moved to another day.
Example: Call/Meeting.
The Iguana tasks (third priority) due to their mobility will catch up with you pretty quickly. And they will bite and bite, no matter how many times you run away from them. Yes, you can safely move them around during the day and even reschedule them, but it is advisable to solve them on time.
Example: Important Email.
The Viper tasks - like the three previous ones - are deadly (do not take other tasks in your to-do list). But unlike the others, it is lazily basking in the sun. Feel free to move it on. The main thing is not to lose your vigilance - at some point you will step on them, and it will be too late.
Example: Reading this article on Substack:)
The KYIV prioritization system may seem ridiculous at first glance, but for me it's an effective way to stay organized and productive. Using an analogy with deadly animals, I can prioritize my tasks. I'd be happy if you find it useful too.
Don't be too strict with the abbreviation.
You can use your own letters. I like acronyms, so I came up with KYIV. The main thing is inside. Prioritizing tasks for the day is based on three simple rules:
Don't do anything that is not important (procrastinating on something that won't hurt you).
For each of the important tasks, ask yourself what will happen when I ignore this task: either during the day or for another day. Look into the future, will you be hurt because you didn't do something?
Sort tasks by their mobility and get a fixed-time schedule.
(The author hangs a small iguana skin on the wall...).
Originally published at Vector