🔥 The Impact-Effort Ratio

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This week: Do you often feel overwhelmed by your to-dos? We’re breaking down a quick and easy method to prioritize like a pro and manage your time better. Let’s go!

🚦 First, Why Prioritizing is So Important

Life can be super overwhelming at times, to put it mildly.

We all have a million things to do across every area of life, from work and school to home and hobbies.

And we all know how frustrating it feels when something important slips through the cracks.

Prioritizing effectively is the only way to stay on top of everything (without losing too much of your cool in the process). But it’s also notoriously hard to do.

To help you get better at it, we’re sharing a simple yet successful planning method: categorizing your tasks by effort and impact.

Scroll on to learn how to apply it to your daily life and start using it this week!

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Now, here’s how to use the impact-effort ratio!

🪣 How to Bucket Tasks by Effort & Impact

Most tasks will fall into one of 4 categories, depending on the amount of effort they require and the impact they have on your life.

Let’s explore each category, including examples, how-tos, and best productivity methods for each:

🚀 High impact, low effort

These include the quick wins and easy tasks that deliver immediate or big results.

Examples:

• Responding to a job offer

• Checking over your college application one last time before submitting

• Paying your rent

How to prioritize: Do these tasks now (or as soon as you can) to clear them off your plate.

Best productivity methods: DIRN, 2-Minute Rule

🧗‍♂️ High impact, high effort

These tasks tend to include major projects and long-term or ongoing work.

Examples:

• Launching a business campaign

• Graduating with honors

• Finishing a creative project

How to prioritize: Work on these tasks consistently throughout the day, week, or month to keep your momentum.

Best productivity methods: Deep Work, Flow State

📌 Low impact, high effort

These “filler” tasks and chores come in all shapes and sizes. Some may need to get done at some point, but have no set deadlines. Others may have deadlines, but aren’t especially impactful.

Examples:

• Finish assigned reading

• Plan weekly meeting with colleagues

• Declutter wardrobe

How to prioritize: Tackle on a case-by-case basis. Consider deadlines, dependencies, and importance.

Best productivity methods: Time Multiplying, Open Loops

🪁 Low impact, low effort tasks

This is the stuff that’s probably been lingering on your to-do list for awhile. It includes things that aren’t especially time-consuming or difficult, but may still be mildly important. Automating, delegating, and removing these tasks regularly will save you some time and brainpower.

Examples:

• RVSP to company party

• Schedule routine medical check-up

• Order new lamp for bedroom

How to prioritize: Do these tasks last, or whenever’s convenient. If one of these items pops up, jot it down so you won’t forget it.

Best productivity methods: Task Batching, Racing Yourself

🪅 Flocus Picks

A curated list of things worth sharing.

• The Flow Archives (Productivity Guides) — Intrigued by the productivity methods we mentioned above? We’ve covered all of them in past editions! Check out The Flow’s full archive for more.

• How to Prioritize What Matters (Video) — This 5-minute video walks you through how to identify your core values and manage your most important commitments.

• Lofi Japan (Playlist) — Chill Japanese lofi beats to focus and relax to.

🖥️ Flocus: Your Productivity Dashboard

No matter your task’s impact or effort, use Flocus to follow through! Use the reorderable task list to organize your to-dos by impact and effort, and romanticize your work or study session with aesthetic backgrounds, soothing ambient sounds, and built-in playlists.

Go to Flocus

Prioritizing well can be tough — but hopefully these tips and productivity methods will make it a little easier for you!

Try it out this week and let us know how it goes. (We read and cherish every response we get!)

Until next Sunday,

Flocus Team