Easy vs hard?

When you have several things on your to-do list, you can probably tell that some of them will be harder than others.

You might want to take on the easy ones first and get them out of the way. But then again, maybe you should bite the bullet and do the hard ones first.

If I may, let me suggest that “easy versus hard” is not the most important question here. The more useful question is this:

Which of these tasks will get me the most value in return for what it costs?

Value could mean a number of things:

• Benefits to health and sanity.

• Financial profit.

• Increased Goodwill.

• Avoiding a significant loss.

• Making the other tasks on my list easier (that’s a big one you might have missed!)

Cost takes on different forms, too:

• Time and money.

• Physical effort.

• The mental stress of doing things I dislike (another one that’s often overlooked).

• Calling in favors.

Here's the thing:

Focusing on “hard versus easy” means you're starting with the cost.

You'll get much better results if you start with the value, and then compare that to the cost.

Heck with a little practice, you'll probably be able to cross some things off your list entirely — because they're just not worth doing.

All the best,
A.