SUMMARY OF TODAY'S MESSAGE

A new ETR reader shares his system for prioritizing daily tasks. I agree with some of what he does, but I also point out several flaws in his system that will almost certainly keep him from accomplishing his major Life Goals.

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SORTING YOUR IN BOX INTO PRIORITY PILES: WHY IT DOESN'T WORK

MA, a new ETR reader, responded to my advice re organizing daily tasks according to Steve Covey's four-quadrant principle. (The idea, in a nutshell, is that you should organize your life so that you give priority to Important but Not Urgent goals since they will make the biggest difference in what you accomplish.)

MA offers "another way to solve the in box (both paper and e-mail) challenge":

1. Categorize everything as it comes in. "With both paper in the tray and e-mail in the in box, I immediately decide what priority to give it."

Comment: Agreed. Part of the 15 minutes I spend each day "planning" my schedule includes this sorting and categorizing process. You can't possibly plan your tasks well if you don't know what's waiting for you.

2. Give top priority to anything that has to be done immediately.

Comment: I'm suspicious of this. Although MA insists that he determines "urgencies" according to his priorities, I wonder if he's not subordinating his schedule to someone else's. If you follow the ETR program, you should almost never have such urgency (car crashes aside). You've got to train your co-workers -- and your bosses too -- to respect your schedule. If you do so politely over time, they will. That said, when such very occasional emergencies arise, you must take care of them. But you don't want to leave them in a pile. You want to put them on your task list and give them priority by highlighting them.

3. MA then divides the rest of the mail into four more categories of priority according to whether it has to be handled by the end of the day, end of the week, "back-burner" stuff, and "to read" material.

Comment: I've tried this system, and it has a major flaw. Unless you account for, beforehand, how long each task will take to complete, you'll have no idea how many tasks you can get done that day. What will almost certainly happen is that you'll end up with a never-complete pile of paper, growing larger every day, with the weekly urgencies being prolonged and the Important but Not Urgent stuff never getting done.

The end result: Someone else will be in charge of your life and you'll never get your major Life Goals accomplished.

The secret to effective planning and prioritizing is to have a daily schedule that is limited to a number of tasks that you can realistically accomplish that day. The priority-pile system gives you the feeling that you are in control, but ultimately fails because it allows you to put tasks in your "to-do" pile that you have no realistic chance of accomplishing.

Don't get me wrong. I'm completely in favor of assigning priorities. But they should not be time-designated. Each day should include time allocations for all your important goals and those that are "Not Urgent" should be given priority.

This is a very difficult thing to do. Most people won't do it because it forces them, first thing in the morning, to recognize the fact that there are certain urgencies that they simply won't handle.

But unless you recognize that reality, you'll be forever working for your in box and will never be truly in charge of your own life.

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IT'S GOOD TO KNOW: ABOUT HEALTHFUL LONGEVITY

Of all nations, Japan leads when it comes to healthful longevity. Japanese people, on the average, stay healthy for almost 74 years. Next on the list, in order, are Switzerland, San Marino, and Andorra. The USA ranks 28th at 67 years. This proves once again that despite America's undisputed preeminence when it comes to medical technology and surgical procedures, the overall quality of our medical care (and consequently our health) is second-rate.

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LIVING RICH: FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT

A Very Good Year for Port

You already know two things about Port: (1) that it was effectively created by the English, who needed a fortified wine that would "keep" aboard their ships during a period of time when they wouldn't trade with the French and (2) that "real" Port comes from Portugal (where the British first got it) and is labeled "Porto" and not "Port."

Now you can know this: 1994 was a great year for Port. The best year since 1963.

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WORD TO THE WISE: PREVARICATE

"Prevaricate" (pree-VARE-uh-kate) is a synonym for "lie." It's a big word with a simple meaning. As such, it's difficult to work it into your quotidian conversation without pretension. But you should be able to recognize it, because it appears frequently in literature.

MMF

TOMORROW

* Five useful principles of persuasion

* Get that master's degree! (Consider an M.B.A.)

* Living Rich: Fake It Till You Make It -- California Cabernets

* Word to the Wise: Quaff

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