Prioritize the Demands in Your Life

Life sometimes seems to spin out of control. Maybe it's a mood or anxiety disorder, or just a lot of complicated problems--whatever, being overwhelmed by the day-to-day demands of life only adds to our acute distress. Many tasks or appointments can seem urgent in the moment, but most of the time only a few of the demands on your schedule probably require immediate attention.

A colleague from Stanford University, Dr. Bibi Das, has come up with a simple, elegant, and colorful way for a person to sort through and prioritize the demands of life and bring order out of chaos.

How it works

Assign any given task or demand on one's list to 1 of 4 color-coded categories:

RED: Red tasks have absolute deadlines, or are non-negotiable emergencies.

Examples: Tax day, final and mid-term exams, doctor appointments, last-minute holiday shopping, etc.

ORANGE: Orange tasks, although important, do not have hard deadlines.

Examples: Researching a presentation, planning and investing for retirement, filing important papers, returning emails, and so on.

BLUE: Blue items are the maintenance stuff in life. You get no credit for taking care of these odds and ends but if you don't do them, things will eventually fall apart.

Examples: The annual physical exam, the semi-annual dental check-up, exercising regularly, changing the car's oil, picking up your dry cleaning, flossing your teeth, etc.

GREEN: Just because ...

This is your time to do anything you want--just because you want to do it. Green activities can be anything that puts you in "flow." The goal here is to live in the moment. Taking care of Green items is not  designed to make you smarter or healthier (even though it will) but they will make you happy and give you peace. (I wouldn't, by the way, put exercise in this category until and unless you absolutely love to exercise.)

Get your life in balance

Now that you have color-coded your tasks, strive for balance. Don't try to do every Red and Orange task before you think about including a Blue or Green task in your day. Do the urgent things, of course, but also be sure to take the time to remind yourself exactly why you are throwing yourself so energetically into such a busy and complex life--reap some of the rewards each day.

Dr. Das has written more about this on his website.