Concept
Four-Criteria Model
The four-criteria model is David Allen's method for choosing what to do right now: filter your next actions by context, time available and energy available, then choose among what remains by priority.
When your lists hold forty reasonable options, ranking all of them is a trap, because any fixed ranking goes stale by lunch. Allen's model works in the moment instead, and in a fixed order. Context comes first: what can you actually do where you are, with the tools at hand? Then time: how long until your next fixed commitment? Then energy: how much focus do you have left? These three are hard limits, so they shrink the list fast. Only then does priority come in. It isn't a mood. It comes from your higher horizons of focus, meaning your projects, responsibilities and goals, which you keep current in the weekly review. The model only works if your lists are already sorted by context and your next actions are written as concrete steps.
A real-life example
It's 4:40 p.m. Maya is at her desk with twenty minutes before a client call, and her brain is half fried. Her lists hold a proposal draft, three phone calls, a budget review and a stack of expense receipts. The proposal needs two hours. The budget review needs a sharp head. Two of the calls fit. She makes the one tied to this quarter's main goal first, then files receipts if any minutes remain.
How to use it
- 1Tag every next action with a context (@computer, @phone, @errands, @office) so you can open only the list that matches where you are.
- 2Before starting, ask three questions in order: where am I, how long do I have, and how much energy is left? Cross out anything that fails one of them.
- 3From what survives, pick the item that moves your most important project or responsibility, as set in your last weekly review.