Those are all great points. Obviously if you are headed down the wrong path (i.e. making sales calls when you don’t even want to be in sales), then definitely this question can possibly do more harm than good. That being said I have found a tremendous increase in productivity through using this method.

I remember listening to those sales tapes when I was a headhunter. Although it’s a great question to ask yourself, sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking (as I did plenty of times) what really is the highest value activity. This gets especially ambiguous when you’re deciding between two different high value activities in different areas of your life: between family and work, for example. Also, sometimes activities which we think are high value, (making sales calls, for example) aren’t high value because if we aren’t meant to be a salesperson, obviously the higher value activity is to look for another job or learn new a new skill.

It’s a good rule of thumb, but sometimes it can get you going in the wrong direction.

@Oscar: I find that dividing tasks is a really great way to focus on things. Right now I have 4-5 task calendars, but I think I’m going to break it down based on this system.

You may be interested in “Dave Market Quadrant” which you can find very easily using Google search.