It’s essential to choose wisely to make the most of your time and the opportunities that come your way in life. You won’t be able to do this unless you identify the activities you need to do and avoid those that don’t have value to you.

A 4-quadrant priority matrix template can include:

• Big impact and great effort
• High impact and low effort
• Low impact and high effort
• Low impact and reduced effort

Once you’ve created a template with these 4 watch faces, you create sections that signify the recommended action for each task based on effort and impact.

Example:

Now: high-impact, low-effort tasks that don’t take up a lot of your time:

• Signing new employment documents;
• Filling in the documents for an exam.

Next: high-impact, high-effort tasks that require a lot of time, but are also very important:

• Creating a strategy proposal for the client;
• Going through the contents for the final exams.

Later: low-impact, low-effort tasks, which include jobs that don’t have as much impact but are still worth doing.

• Organization of the customer contact list;
• Solving a crossword puzzle (easy level).

Don’t: low-impact, high-effort tasks.

• Correction of a strategic message document that the creative department has already approved;
• Writing an essay on a topic of personal interest.

Once you have created the template with custom labels and sections, you should follow the following steps:

1. You copy the basic template of the prioritization matrix.
2. You rename the template (for example, “Prioritization matrix for the week ….)
3. You add all the appropriate tasks to the template.
4. Assign custom labels to each task, indicating effort and impact.
5. Place the tasks in the appropriate section (Now, Next, Later, Don’t).
6. Add your start dates.

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