The $10K framework for a regular mom

Most of you would have heard of the Eisenhower Matrix. It’s a framework that allows you to prioritize tasks so you know which ones are more important or urgent. This is what the original Eisenhower Matrix looks like:

Urgent, important	Not urgent, important
Urgent, not important	Not urgent, not important

I’ve tried using the Eisenhower framework before and never stuck with it. Somehow, dividing my tasks into urgent and important, urgent but not important, etc. didn’t make my heart sing. So there I was, chugging along with my Ticktick to-do list, categorized into ‘home’ and ‘work’, when I stumbled on this blog article by Khe Hy called ‘The magic of doing $10,000 per hour work‘. I was sold for 10K!

The 10K framework

This framework is basically the Eisenhower Matrix reinvented. It has the same quadrants but now they are called $10K work, $1K work, $100 work and $10 work. Khe describes the framework as a process of identifying your highest leverage activities and committing a small amount of time to them each day. The 10K Matrix is definitely geared towards entrepreneurs and high-flying career people. The categories are no where near perfect and there are lots of activities that don’t earn you any money. How do you prioritize those? This is how I modified it to suit me:

$10,000 per hour work for a regular mom

My $10K framework on TickTick

If you’re interested, I modify the TickTick Eisenhower Matrix to suit the $10K framework.

$10K/hour work (high skill, high leverage)

Obviously, $10,000 per hour work doesn’t actually earn you $10K per hour although I wish it did. But it’s work that benefits the future you. For example, I consider spending 10 minutes in the morning reviewing your day $10K work because it benefits you for the rest of the day. Spending time teaching your child how to pick her toys up is also $10K work because then, future you won’t have to do it. You can also call $10K work ‘for the future’. P/S: Learning how to use your brain to avoid brain fatigue is $10K/hr work.

$1000/hour work (high skill, low leverage)

This is where my work tasks get slotted in. This is for the work I get paid to do. If I don’t do it, I don’t get paid. These tasks are not scalable. But they are important to put food on the table today. You can call $1K work ‘for survival’

$100/hour work (low skill, high leverage)

Tasks that are important for day-to-day life are called $100/hour work. They are not hard to do but they take time. For example, replying to emails, filing your recipes, grocery shopping, doing the laundry, sterilizing bottles… you get the picture. Sitting down listening to an audiobook while your kids play around you is $100 work. Having fun actively playing with your kids I call $10K work. I would also class self-care, mental breaks and time-out for yourself as $100/hr work. Do you agree? You can also call $100 work ‘daily chores’. (Here’s how you can reduce the number of household chores you have)

$10/hour work (low skill, low leverage)

These are tasks that add so little value to your life that you might as well say they shouldn’t be done at all. These include scrolling Instagram, making a music video for Tiktok and checking the number of likes on your Facebook post for the 100th time. If I give you the vibe that I’m anti-social media, I am. $10 work is also called ‘useless stuff’. If you find yourself saying yes to too many $10 tasks, learn how to say no without hurting anyone.

Which tasks should you do first?

For the most part, if your day is anything like mine, it will mostly be dictated by your children and your boss. If I wake up early enough, I try to get my $10K work done first. If I can get one measly 10K task done a day, I already feel like a winner. Because I know whatever $10K work I accomplish will snowball to give me more benefit in the future. Then, if I’m at work, obviously all the $1K tasks get prioritized. And if I’m at home, there’s none in the $1K quadrant anyway and $100 work gets done. Admittedly, I also spend way too much unplanned time on $10 work but hey, I never claimed to be perfect. I’m still a work in progress.

How much $10K work should you do?

No one, not even Elon Musk, can afford to spend their whole day doing 10K work. There will be the odd day where you’ll get lots of $10K work done and feel like a million bucks. For regular people like us, getting 1-2 $10K tasks done a day is good enough. The benefits of 10K work stack up over time. You’ll see.