Before we look at the balance, let's see the work.
It's hard to know where your effort goes when you're carrying everything around in your head. We'll bring your typical activities into view, sort them, and see what stands out.
Delivery
The work that keeps the lights on and delivers today.
See examples
Client work, fulfilment, support, regular administration.
Leverage
What you build once to save time and create future value.
See examples
Templates, documentation, reusable processes and automation.
Grow
Investing in your future capacity.
See examples
New offers, learning, strategic relationships and new markets.
What's taking your time and attention?
Jot down the activities you regularly spend time on. Short phrases are enough. Try to capture the work as it happens, not what you think you should be doing.
Sort the work
Decide what each activity is mainly contributing to. Choose one destination at a time, then review the whole board. You can always change your mind.
Your effort distribution board
Click an activity on the board to move it to another column. On a computer you can also drag it.
Compare the effort
Now compare how much of your time and energy each activity tends to take relative to the others. Place them across the range, then keep adjusting as the picture becomes clearer.
What low, medium and high effort mean here
Light-touch work. Usually quicker, easier or less demanding than most of the rest.
A regular amount of effort. Important, but not one of the heaviest drains on your time or energy.
Work that takes a big share of your time, energy, attention or follow-up compared with the others.
What do you notice?
Look at the whole picture. Which type of work contains the heavier commitments? Is that where you want your effort to go at this stage?
Your effort, made visible
Compare the weight of your activities across Delivery, Leverage and Grow. The longer the bar, the greater the relative effort you assigned.
What would you like to do with what you can see?
Choose a direction that fits your situation. The aim is deliberate effort, not a perfect distribution.
Your Effort Distribution Map
Your real activities, compared by relative effort, and the decision you're taking forward.
Delivery · Leverage · Grow