Wellness Tool: The Women's Wellbeing Lab's Prioritisation Grid

Purpose

When life feels crowded, it’s easy to treat everything as equally urgent — especially when responsibility has slowly accumulated without being consciously chosen.

This tool builds on the traditional Eisenhower Grid by adding something it often misses: ownership and discussion. Rather than assuming you can simply decide, delegate, or drop tasks, this version helps you notice what is truly yours, what has quietly become yours, and where shared responsibility needs shared conversation.

The aim is not productivity for productivity’s sake, but clearer decision-making, reduced cognitive load, and more sustainable use of your energy.

Grid One

Steps

Step 1 - Consider the Tasks on Your Mental To-Do List

• Identify one task, decision, or responsibility that is currently drawing your attention.

• Before deciding what to do with it, consider two questions:

  • How important is this to me, really?

  • How much ownership do I genuinely have over it?

• Sketch Grid One above and place a single dot based on where this task sits across the two axes:

  • Importance (low → high)

  • Capability / Ownership

    • Only I am capable of doing this

    • Others are capable of doing this, too

• Repeat this process for each task, decision, or responsibility calling for your attention.

Step 2 - Use the Action Grid to Guide What Happens Next

• Once all tasks are placed, move to Grid Two below. This grid groups tasks by suggested next action.

• Using the suggested groups for where each point approximately sits in the grid, draw a ring around each group and assign numbers 1–7 using the following guide:

1. Do immediately – This is important and genuinely yours alone.

2. Delegate immediately – This matters, but it is not just for you.

3. Do after priority tasks – Discuss with others before taking this on.

4. Mutual discussion before deciding – Agree together who will take responsibility.

5. Consider later – After higher-priority and shared tasks, choose one to prioritise.

6. Do not do today – Decide when this will be done or who will do it.

7. Delegate – This is neither solely yours nor particularly important right now.

Grid Two

Step 3 – Use the Grid to Take Next Actions

Identify your next best action from here. This could include:

• Take immediate action on tasks in Group 1.

• Delegate tasks in Group 2 immediately.

• Share your Priority Grid with someone where discussion would support shared ownership.

• Rank remaining tasks in the order you will complete them today, and note which tasks will be deferred.

• Use the Wellness Tool: Assertiveness and the “I” Statement for Boundary Setting to support clear discussions around shared or sole ownership, capacity, and timing — so responsibilities are agreed, realistic, and actionable for everyone involved.

This process is about awareness before action. Many tasks are not consciously chosen — they build up through care, habit, or necessity, and over time can quietly become “yours” without ever being reviewed. Others genuinely do require your involvement. By pausing to consider both importance and ownership, this tool helps you notice that difference without judgement or pressure to resolve everything immediately.

The second grid supports more realistic decisions about what happens next. It helps distinguish between actions you can take independently and protect as your own — often because others may not be aware of the task or may not share your drive to see it completed — and tasks where overwhelm can be reduced by discussing shared ownership and joint capacity. Some responsibilities may simply require mutual agreement, while others may require an assertive conversation to clarify ownership or hand it back. When ownership and importance are made visible, decisions feel clearer, cognitive load reduces, and energy can be directed where it is most appropriate.

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This tool is fully accessible within the Women’s Wellbeing Lab. If you would like to extend this work, the Lab offers psychology-informed tools, articles, and resources designed to support reflection, clarity, and intentional action.

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