How to Prioritize

Goals and Projects

with the ICE Matrix
Do The Damn Thing (DTDT)
September 2020
http://www.asianefficiency.com
Do The Damn Thing
(aka “DTDT”)
Top 3 Tips

1. Your YES-to-NO ratio is ideally 1:4 or lower. You must say NO more often

than “yes” to focus and prioritize. Track how often you say “yes” and “no”

for a day to calculate your ratio.

2. Question to ask yourself: “What are the negative consequences if this does

NOT get done?”

3. Any goal or project that has been untouched for over 6 months,

DELETE IT from your list.

Question from Christoph:
“I have too many projects because of my
various job-roles at the moment which seem
all very important and urgent. How can the
ICE matrix help me in solving this?”
 Goal:
By the end of this hour you will
have your projects prioritized
The Problems With Prioritization
1. There are so many things we COULD or
SHOULD do at any given time.

2. Perceived urgency is not always the best guide.

3. What we want to work on is not always what

we SHOULD work on.
Exercise
List 3-5 projects/ideas/tasks that you want to prioritize.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Exercise
List 3-5 projects/ideas/tasks that you want to prioritize.
_Intro Course ideas:_____________________________________
_____- Planning Your Week______________________________
_____- Speed Reading___________________________________
_____- Sleep____________________________________________
Exercise
List 3-5 projects/ideas/tasks that you want to prioritize.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
We need help!
Enter…

The ICE Matrix

Question from Justus:
“Is the ICE matrix only for big goals or also for
small goals?”
The ICE Matrix
1. Impact — what impact will doing this have
on our customers, business, life, etc. ?

2. Confidence — How confident are we that

we can actually do it in the time that we
have?

3. Ease — How easy will this be to do?

The ICE Matrix
Why is this helpful?

● Something can be easy to do, but won’t have much impact. Is it worth
doing?

● Something could (theoretically) be impactful, but it’s very unlikely we

could actually do it.

● Something could be impactful and we could do it, but it would be

extremely difficult. What else might that impact?

● Ideas can be personal, and proponents for an idea can drag everyone
into long discussions. ICE Matrix = impartial tool.
Exercise - create a 5x4 grid
 Exercise - Title the Grid

Priority Impact Confidence Ease Score

 Exercise - List Your Items

Priority Impact Confidence Ease Score

Planning Your Week

Speed Reading

Sleep
 Exercise - Rate Your First Priority

Priority Impact Confidence Ease Score

Planning Your Week 4 3 4

Speed Reading

Sleep

● Impact: 1-5 with 5 being most impact

● Confidence: 1-5 with 5 being most confident we can do it
● Ease: 1-5 with 5 being easiest to do
 Exercise - Rate Your Second Priority

Priority Impact Confidence Ease Score

Planning Your Week 4 3 4

Speed Reading 3 3 3

Sleep

● Impact: 1-5 with 5 being most impact

● Confidence: 1-5 with 5 being most confident we can do it
● Ease: 1-5 with 5 being easiest to do
 Exercise - Rate Your Remaining Priorities

Priority Impact Confidence Ease Score

Planning Your Week 4 4 4

Speed Reading 3 3 3

Sleep 3 5 5

● Impact: 1-5 with 5 being most impact

● Confidence: 1-5 with 5 being most confident we can do it
● Ease: 1-5 with 5 being easiest to do
 Exercise - Score Each Priority

Priority Impact Confidence Ease Score

Planning Your Week 4 4 3 48

Speed Reading 3 3 3 27

Sleep 3 5 5 75

● Score = Impact x Confidence x Ease

 Exercise - Pick A Winner

Priority Impact Confidence Ease Score

Planning Your Week 4 4 3 48

Speed Reading 3 3 3 27

Sleep 3 5 5 75

● Score = Impact x Confidence x Ease

What about teams?
Beware The HiPPO
Team ICE Matrix

Options

1. Silent ballot/averaging

2. Have leader give vote last

Will seem awkward
at first, but the more
you do it the easier it
becomes
Question from Jeleen:
“What roles on your team must ABSOLUTELY
participate in the ICE scoring exercise at a
minimum? And is there a maximum? Example:
could you send it to all your employees in a
large organization? Or all of your customers?”
Summary

● Make a list of your top priorities

● Add them to the ICE List Matrix
● Rate and Score
● Pick a winner & implement!
Where to go for help?
● How to Prioritize Your Todo List and Goals
○ https://customer.asianefficiency.com/lessons/how-to-prioritize-your-todo-list-and-goals/

● Join the Dojo!

○ www.asianefficiency.com/dojo/

● https://dojo.asianefficiency.com
● support@asianefficiency.com
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Question from Donna:

“How do I prioritize across both personal,

community and professional demands?”
Questions