A Guide To Prioritizing By Needs: Tasks You Want To Do

August 13th 2008

A few months ago I started experimenting with a different form or prioritizing, where tasks are prioritized by whether I need, should, or just want to do them. While this is hardly a radical departure from traditional forms of prioritizing, I do find it to be much more flexible (for instance, you don’t need to do something when the deadline is a long time away) and in line with basic commonsense. I’ve introduced the concept but now I want to expand on it. In the first part of this regular guide I take a look at the lowest (I use the word loosely) level of the hierarchy, which covers items you want to do.

Stuff that you merely want to do can involve projects like pursuing hobbies, or seeing a film. It can also be tasks with timescales so long that that there is no practical reason to start them, other than the fact you just want to. Their deadlines, commitments and consequences are minimal/not applicable in the short term. However, as is the case with everything with this approach to prioritizing, if you leave a task long enough it is liable to jump a level. For instance, there is a film you really want to watch which means it would rank highly in a rigid prioritizing system. However, because it has only just come out there is no point in fighting through the crowds to see it. Several weeks later though, when the film is nearing it’s run at the cinema, it either becomes something you should/need to do if you are still keen to watch it, or it disappears as a task due to waning interest.

It’s worth noting that because a task is just something you want to do, it may come across as not particularly important in the grand scheme of things. However, this is far from the case. As I’ve discussed before, having leisure and downtime is just as important as getting stuff done. If you’ve got several weeks of hard work ahead of you those wants, whether it be indulging in an hobby or arranging a meal with your friends, will quickly become needs. Though a traditional task such as preparing notes for a meeting has obvious consequences from failing to complete it, such as your boss shouting at you (or worse), ignoring items you want to do is likely to drain you of your motivation and happiness in the long term. The big difference is that if you are rushed off your feet trying to finish a big project at work (basically, you’ve got loads of items you need to do), then items you want to do can be set aside in the short term to help get the project done.