Use Forster’s Inventory of Commitments to Prioritize Tasks
If you have a lot to do each day, it can be difficult to prioritize. You can try to identify what’s urgent and what’s not , create a detailed schedule, and use technology to stay focused , but sometimes it’s hard to even know where to start. If you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s worth checking out Forster’s Commitment Inventory to help you organize it all, especially if you prefer visual cues to visualize your day.
What is a liability inventory?
The commitment method was developed by British productivity expert Mark Forster, author of How to Get Everything Done and Have Time to Play . Essentially, this method assumes that your time is limited, so you need to carefully manage your minutes and energy by determining in advance how much time you can devote to each task. In this way, it’s similar to time blocking and time boxing , which require you to determine in advance how you’ll spend each minute of your day and then schedule it all on your calendar.
This is helpful when you feel like your daily responsibilities aren’t contributing enough to your larger goals, when you find it difficult to say no to new projects or proposals, or when you feel too overwhelmed to do any meaningful work on any of your tasks. Understanding your larger goals and how small daily tasks contribute to them is a crucial part of any productivity plan, as it helps you stay motivated.
How to conduct an inventory of liabilities
First, consider how much time you have per day to work. It might be a standard eight or ten hours, for example, depending on what you do, but you need to have a clear number in mind. Then, make a detailed list of everything you need to accomplish that day, from small tasks like answering emails to larger ones like working on a group project.
For best results, do this in an Excel spreadsheet, as you’ll also need to calculate how long each task will take. If sending emails will take you half an hour, write, for example, 30 minutes in the column next to that task. When you’re finished, calculate how many minutes it would take to complete all those tasks if you spent the time you specified on them. If they take more time than you have in a day, you need to reconsider your actions. However, don’t give yourself too much time—remember Parkinson’s Law : your work will grow, taking up all your allotted time, causing you to waste it. So subtract a few minutes from each of your totals.
You can’t spend more than 100% of your time—that’s obviously impossible—so next, cut back on unnecessary tasks and reduce the time you spend on less important ones. Once you’ve allocated the time you can devote to each task, use the spreadsheet data to create a pie chart. This visual diagram will show you what should be your top priorities for the day and in what order—from most to least—so you can be sure you’re devoting enough time and energy to the most important tasks.
You can then break down the tasks into smaller ones, but you should work in the order shown on the pie chart.