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Create a tool to rank your ideas

Creating a tool to rank your ideas helps prioritize tasks, refine concepts, and focus on what truly matters. Here’s a structured, customizable idea-ranking tool you can use for personal brainstorming, team meetings, or product development:


🛠️ Idea Ranking Tool

Step 1: List All Your Ideas

Create a simple list of ideas you’d like to evaluate. Number them for easy reference.

Example:

  1. Launch a podcast

  2. Start a YouTube channel

  3. Create an online course

  4. Write a blog series

  5. Develop a mobile app


Step 2: Choose Evaluation Criteria

Select 4–6 criteria based on your goals. Common ones include:

  • Impact – How valuable is the idea to your goals or audience?

  • Effort – How much time/resources are needed?

  • Profitability – How much money could it generate?

  • Uniqueness – How original or differentiated is the idea?

  • Scalability – Can it grow easily?

  • Personal Excitement – How motivated are you to pursue it?


Step 3: Score Each Idea

Use a 1–5 scale (1 = low, 5 = high) to rate each idea under each criterion.

IdeaImpactEffort (inverse)ProfitabilityUniquenessExcitementTotal
1. Launch a podcast3434519
2. Start a YouTube channel4243417
3. Create an online course5354320
4. Write a blog series3523518
5. Develop a mobile app4155217

Tip: You can invert the Effort score so lower effort gets a higher score.


Step 4: Rank Your Ideas

Sort by total score from highest to lowest. The top-ranked ideas are your best candidates to pursue first.


Optional: Add Weighting to Criteria

If some criteria matter more, assign weight values (e.g., Impact = 30%, Effort = 20%) and calculate weighted scores for each idea.

Example formula:

java
Weighted Score = (Impact × 0.3) + (Effort × 0.2) + (Profitability × 0.2) + (Uniqueness × 0.2) + (Excitement × 0.1)

Use a spreadsheet for easy calculation and visualization.


Step 5: Decide and Act

Review the top 1–3 ranked ideas and outline action steps. You can even set deadlines and assign tasks if working in a team.


Bonus: Template (Manual or Digital)

Create your tool in:

  • Google Sheets/Excel – Use formulas for scoring and sorting

  • Notion – Create a database with columns for criteria and filters

  • Airtable – Add rich fields like file uploads and tags

  • Pen & Paper – Great for quick brainstorming


This tool streamlines decision-making and prevents analysis paralysis by adding clarity and structure to your ideation process.

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