
Notion’s wide versatility makes it a powerful tool for managing tasks. By pairing the
if() function with a prioritization matrix, you can automatically prioritize your tasks to boost your productivity even further.The if() Function
If you’re new to Notion formulas, consider starting with Meet Notion’s Formula Property.
The
if() function allows you to perform an action if a condition is met, or another action if the condition is unmet. By nesting if() functions, or placing them within one another, you can specify actions for numerous conditions.The
if() function takes three arguments:- The test expression, which evaluates to
trueorfalse.
- The operation to perform if
true.
- The operation to perform if
false.
For example:
if( 2 < 3, "Yes", "No" ) → "Yes"Comparison Operators
For the first argument — the test expression — you can use comparison functions, such as
test(), or comparison operators, which you’ll find in The Notion Formula Cheat Sheet.Prioritize with the Eisenhower Matrix
What’s the Eisenhower Matrix?
With the Eisenhower Matrix, you indicate the importance and urgency of each task:
This will give you one of four actions for each task:
- Important and urgent: Do it.
- Important but not urgent: Schedule it.
- Urgent but not important: Delegate it.
- Not urgent and not important: Eliminate it.
Apply the Eisenhower Matrix to Your Notion Tasks
To prioritize your tasks with the Eisenhower Matrix:
- Start with a Tasks database viewed as a Table.
- Add a
Checkboxproperty named Important.
- Add another
Checkbox. Name it Urgent.
- Add a
Formulaproperty named Priority.
- Compose the formula for Priority:Here’s how the formula works:
if(prop("Important"), if(prop("Urgent"), "Do", "Delegate"), if(prop("Urgent"), "Schedule", "Eliminate"))
- If Urgent is checked, return “Do.”
- Otherwise (Urgent is unchecked), return “Delegate.”
- If Urgent is checked, return “Schedule.”
- Otherwise (Urgent is unchecked), return “Eliminate.”
Prioritize with the Marie Matrix
Championed by renowned Notion user Marie Poulin, the Marie Matrix considers the impact and effort of tasks. Each can be low, medium or high; the higher the impact and lower the effort, the higher the priority.
To prioritize your tasks with the Marie Matrix:
- Start with a Tasks database viewed as a Table.
- Add a
Selectproperty named Impact. Give it three options: “High,” “Medium” and “Low.”
- Add a
Selectproperty named Effort. Give it three options: “High,” “Medium” and “Low.”
- Add a
Formulaproperty named Impact Priority. Write a formula that returns1for high-impact tasks,2for medium-impact tasks, and3for low-impact tasks:Here’s how the formula works:
if(empty(prop("Impact")), toNumber(""), if(prop("Impact") == "Low", 3, if(prop("Impact") == "Medium", 2, 1)))
- If Impact is “Low,” return
3. - Otherwise (Impact is not “Low”):
- If Impact is “Medium,” return
2. - Otherwise (Impact is neither “Low” nor “Medium”), return
1.
- Add a
Formulaproperty named Effort Priority. Write a similar formula that returns1for low-effort tasks,2for medium-effort tasks, and3for high-effort tasks:
if(empty(prop("Effort")), toNumber(""), if(prop("Effort") == "Low", 1, if(prop("Effort") == "Medium", 2, 3)))
- Add a
Formulaproperty named Total Priority. Write a formula that adds Impact Priority and Effort Priority:
add(prop("Effort Priority"), prop("Impact Priority"))
- Hide Impact Priority, Effort Priority and Total Priority.
- Add a
Formulaproperty that returns specified emojis for each possible Total Priority:Here’s how the formula works:
if(prop("Total Priority") == 2, "", if(prop("Total Priority") == 3, "", if(prop("Total Priority") == 4, "", if(prop("Total Priority") == 5, "", ""))))
2, return .2):- If Total Priority is
3, return . - Otherwise (Total Priority is not
3): - If Total Priority is
4, return . - Otherwise (Total Priority is not
4):