ADHD Prioritization Strategies, Part 3: Impact and Effort
In this final post in my ADHD Prioritization Strategies series, I’m sharing a new approach to prioritizing the things you need to do. It’s a great way to get Maximum Impact for Minimal Effort in your days!
Prioritization holds the key to achieving true fulfillment and freedom by guiding you in effectively managing your days with ample time, energy, and bandwidth for what truly matters. It’s how you become masterfully productive and Do The Right Things At The Right Time to accomplish what you intend, without killing yourself every day.
But, Prioritization is Hard when you have an ADHD brain and an exploding to-do list! And one thing is crystal clear after working with professionals and entrepreneurs with ADHD for 17+ years…
Traditional prioritization strategies just don’t cut it with ADHD!
That’s why I’m sharing a different approach to prioritization that is an ADHD-friendly strategy based on an uncommon approach to help give you the clarity you need to guide your days more easily and effectively, so you have maximum impact, with minimum effort. And I’ve created a new, easy-to-use workbook to help you master the process!
Say Goodbye to Overwhelm and Reactive days, and say Hello to the Ease of Intentional, Proactive Productivity!
Click the link below to Download my new Prioritize with Impact© Guide to take you, step by step, through a proven, simple step-by-step process to have masterful prioritization and create the clarity you need to unleash your full potential.
Click here to get my complimentary Prioritize with Impact© Workbook: A Practical Guide for Getting the Right Things Done
This framework for prioritization and corresponding workbook can be a game-changing tool to help you take advantage of your own strengths, like your natural peaks and valleys in focus and energy, and regain control of your days and skyrocket your effectiveness! If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 of my ADHD Prioritization Strategies series, be sure to check them out. They lay the foundation for what we’re about to dive into today.
Introducing the The Impact vs. Effort Matrix
The matrix is simple two-dimensional scale with impact on one axis and effort on the other (as pictured at the top of this page, and in the workbook).
The impact side gauges the significance and value of a task and its (duh!) impact on your goals and objectives when completed, while the effort side represents the perceived (more on that later) effort required to complete it. This matrix helps you assess and categorize your tasks based on their potential impact and the effort they demand, and gives you a tool to use the information you now know about your own, personal focus and energy flow (from the Energy Audit exercise in part 2 of this sieries) so that you can work in ways that are most natural for you.
Remember: it’s all about allocating what I call your 3 Precious Resources© more effectively and efficiently so that you have More Left Over for What Matters Most to You! Again,
Your 3 Precious Resources© are:
- Your Time,
- Your Energy, and
- Your Focus (aka attention or bandwidth).
Broken Record alert! Again… the whole reason for improving productivity is to Create Freedom and Fulfillment! It’s not about working harder or improving output simply for the sake of crossing more stuff off some list each day. It’s about accomplishing what you intend more easily, so that you have More Time, More Energy, and More Bandwidth left over for what matters most to you!
Your Perceived Effort
When you’re assessing the effort required to do something, it’s crucial to go with how it feels to you, right now. It’s all about your own perception of effort. It doesn’t matter what level of effort you think it should take or how much effort you think it would take someone else. This is about Your Perceived Effort, and it matters!
Someone else’s experience (or what you think their experience is or what you think yours should be, is not only completely irrelevant, it’s counter-productive!
What’s feels hard to you is unique to you! And that’s nothing to be ashamed of!
Recognizing what feels hard to you and Accepting Your Perceived Effort without shame or judgement is key to learning how to accomplish the stuff you struggle with most often!
It’s the beginning of addressing What’s going on Between Your Ears that’s Getting In Your Way!
When you are using Your Perceived Effort level for a task or action as you’re using the matrix, you can schedule tasks to make the most of your own energy and focus flow for the biggest impact on your goals!
Your Energy Audit: the perfect partner to the Matrix
You can run your day in a way that ensures you have the most time, energy and bandwidth left over for whatever matters most to you when you apply what you learn from the Energy Audit to the Impact vs Effort Prioritization Matrix in the workbook!
I give you helpful tips in the workbook but, for starters…
Schedule those tasks that are high on both the effort and impact axes for those times of day when you have the highest levels of focus and energy. Correspondingly, schedule those tasks that are low on effort but higher on impact during those focus/energy dips in your day. It can be a tremendously effective way to have the biggest productivity “bang for the buck”, without working harder.
Use my simple Prioritize with Impact© Workbook with additional tips and ADHD prioritization strategies to help you apply the process to your own life! Get maximum impact for minimum effort!
Remember…
Information and education are important, but…
Lasting Change comes when you Apply what you’re learning with consistent Action and Accountability!
Give the ADHD-friendly strategies in the Prioritize with Impact© Workbook a try! Let me know how you make out by commenting below.
This approach can be a game-changer in shifting your perspective on prioritization! Categorizing tasks based on their impact and your perceived effort allows you to make better choices about where to invest your time, energy and focus. And that’s the whole goal, right? So that you have more of them for the things and people who matter most to you!
Remember, be patient with yourself, set realistic expectations, and leverage your strengths. With this powerful tool in your arsenal, you have the potential to thrive in your whole life.
Embrace your unique ways of working, and unleash your potential like never before!
You’ve got this! 💪🏼✨
And I’m here to help if you need it. Simply comment below to share your thoughts, questions and insights. I love hearing from you!
Lynne Edris, ACG
Productivity & ADHD Coach
P.S. If you missed earlier parts of the series, you can check them out using the links below:
Prioritization Strategies, Part1: Why the Most Common Method Doesn’t Work!
Prioritization Strategies, Part 2: Energy Management
