Time & Focus Prioritisation

What the framework is

Time and focus prioritisation compares your commitments and activities to decide which deserve your attention, and which to reduce or stop. The template starts with five criteria: Importance, Urgency, Long-Term Value, Energy Impact and Alignment with Goals. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

What the result looks like

When it earns its place

Use it when you are overstretched and everything feels necessary. It is a structured version of asking "if I could only keep three, which would they be?".

The trap is urgency. Urgent tasks crowd out important ones, the distinction from Eisenhower's 1954 remark that Stephen Covey later popularised as a four-box matrix (1989). Comparing on importance and urgency separately shows which is which.

How to run it with a group

1. List your current commitments and activities, including the ones you would like to drop.
2. Decide how much each criterion counts for you.
3. Compare the activities two at a time on each criterion.
4. Protect time for the top few. For those at the bottom, decide whether to reduce, delegate or stop them.

More templates like this

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