In his Podcast series “21 Great Ways To Double Your Productivity”, Brian Tracy teaches how to set priorities with the “ABCDE Method”.

You will find the principles discussed in this article simple to implement in your life. The ABCDE Method by Brian Tracy is hands-down one of the most effective time management methods anywhere.

Learning to pick your most important task and working on that task until it is complete is the most important time management principle you can learn. The ABCDE Method will help you to identify your highest value tasks before you start working. Identifying these high value tasks before you start working is imperative to your success.

It’s easy to figure out your most important task. Think about which, of all your tasks, will carry the greatest consequences, whether or not it’s finished.

That’s the key: to continually identify the consequences of completing, or not completing, a given task.

The three steps of Brian Tracy’s Successful ABCDE Method:

1. List all items you must complete today.

2. Put a letter between A and E by each item.

An “A” item represents something that you must do. These items have serious consequences. These are your key tasks. Work on these first.

A “B” item is “Should Do” but is not as important as an “A” item. There are only mild consequences to not completing these tasks. The consequences are only short-lived.

C’s are nice to do, but not essential to do. Your long-term success will not be affected at all by these tasks.

The rule is to never do a “B” item when an “A” item is still on the list; never do “C” when there’s still a “B”. Pretty easy instructions, but it takes discipline to implement the list and follow it in order.

A “D” task is a task you delegate. You need to delegate as much as possible to partners or coworkers who can do that particular task as well or better than you.

E’s are to be ELIMINATED. These are non-important tasks. They carry no consequences. Accordingly, drop them. Don’t delegate, just drop.

If you want to free yourself to work on your A and B tasks you really need to discipline yourself to get rid of all tasks that can be done by others and to eliminate all non-essential tasks.

And the last step in the ABCDE Method…

3. Organize your “A” tasks by priority.

Put “1″ by highest value task, “2″ by the next highest value: A1, A2, A3, etc. Once this is complete, put everything else aside and begin working on “A1″ right away. Work on “A1″ is fully complete.

If you truly want to double your productivity, you would be wise to adapt the ABCDE Method into your daily planning. Brian Tracy is a master at what he teaches, as demonstrated by his own success.