The Four-Criteria Model for Choosing Actions in the Moment
Context, time, energy, priority -- the real-time decision filter for what to do next
The Four-Criteria Model provides a practical, sequential filter for deciding what to do at any given moment during the workday. Rather than relying on abstract priority rankings, it works through four real-world constraints in order: (1) Context -- what actions are possible given your current location and available tools? (2) Time available -- how much time do you have before your next hard commitment? (3) Energy available -- what is your current mental and physical capacity? (4) Priority -- given the filtered options remaining after the first three criteria, which action provides the highest payoff?
The power of this model lies in its sequence. Context is the first filter because it immediately eliminates the largest number of options -- if you're in your car, you can't do computer work; if you're at a meeting, you can't make phone calls. This is why Allen insists on organizing action lists by context rather than by project or priority. The second filter, time, removes actions that don't fit your available window. Energy further narrows the field by matching task demands to your current capacity. Only after these three pragmatic filters have narrowed your options do you apply the subjective judgment of priority.
This approach acknowledges a truth that most priority-based systems ignore: your 'most important' task is irrelevant if you don't have the context, time, or energy to do it right now. By filtering through practical constraints first, you arrive at a small set of genuinely doable options, making the priority judgment much more manageable and trustworthy.
- Priority is the last filter, not the first. Context, time, and energy must be satisfied before priority becomes relevant.
- Organizing action lists by context rather than by project or priority is what makes this model work in practice.
- There is no reason not to be highly productive even when you're not in top form -- low-energy tasks exist for low-energy moments.
- Having a complete inventory of all your possible actions, organized by context, is a prerequisite for trusting your in-the-moment choices.
- Filter by contextAssess what actions are physically possible given your current location and available tools. If you're at your computer, pull up your 'At Computer' list. If you have a phone, check your 'Calls' list. If you're running errands, review your 'Errands' list. This instantly eliminates the majority of your action inventory.Pro tipThink carefully about where and how you can and can't do different actions. Some people maintain separate lists for 'At Computer' (requires internet) and 'At Computer - Offline' (can be done on a plane).
- Filter by time availableHow long until your next hard commitment? If you have ten minutes before a meeting, don't start a task that requires an hour of deep focus. Select actions that fit the window. This is why having small tasks on your lists is valuable -- they fill the 'weird little windows' that occur throughout every day.Pro tipA complete action list with items of varying duration lets you maximize every time window. Five minutes between meetings can dispatch a quick call; a cancelled meeting can accommodate deep project work.
- Filter by energy availableHonestly assess your current mental and physical energy level. After a marathon budget session, you probably can't draft a strategic proposal -- but you could file expenses, browse a trade journal, or input phone numbers. Match task demands to your vitality level.Pro tipAlways keep an inventory of low-energy tasks ready. When your energy dips, having easy wins available prevents the downward spiral of avoiding all work because everything feels too demanding.
- Choose by priority among remaining optionsFrom the filtered set of actions that match your context, time, and energy, select the one with the highest payoff. This is where your intuition, informed by your understanding of your projects, responsibilities, goals, and values, makes the final call.Pro tipIf you've done the work of clarifying your Horizons of Focus, your intuitive sense of priority will be far more reliable than any coding system.WarningIf you haven't done the clarification work at higher levels, your sense of 'priority' may default to urgency or anxiety rather than genuine importance.
It's 10:33 on a Monday morning. You have three options: call Sandy about a project, finish a proposal, or process your emails. Context: you're at your desk with phone and computer (all three are possible). Time: you have a meeting in 27 minutes (the proposal may not be finishable). Energy: you rate yourself at 7.3 out of 10 (fairly fresh). Priority: the proposal has the highest strategic value and can make meaningful progress in 27 minutes.
After a grueling four-hour budget meeting, a manager returns to her desk with 90 minutes before her next meeting. Her energy is depleted. Rather than attempting the creative strategy memo she needs to write (which requires high energy), she checks her context-appropriate lists and finds: file expense receipts, input three new contacts into her database, and skim a trade magazine article.
Allen developed this model after observing that traditional priority-based systems (A-B-C coding, daily to-do lists ranked by importance) consistently failed professionals in the real world. People would identify their 'A1' priority but then spend the day unable to work on it because they were in the wrong location, had back-to-back meetings, or lacked the mental energy. The four-criteria model emerged from analyzing what actually drove successful action choices: context always came first, not priority.