# Sort information into what needs my attention and what I can ignore

Separates signal from noise: the 10 points that matter, what needs action from you, and what you can safely skip.

- Topic: Productivity & Planning
- Framework: RTF
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Productivity, Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/sort-information-into-what-needs-my-attention-and-what-i-can-ignore

## Prompt

```text
Help me cut through the information below and tell me what actually matters to me.

**My role and current priorities:** [e.g. "finance manager; closing Q3, hiring two analysts"]
**What I'm responsible for or accountable for:** [AREAS]
**Information:** [PASTE updates, newsletters, reports, long threads, announcements]

Return:
1. **Needs my action** - items where I must do, decide, or reply, with the deadline if stated. Most urgent first.
2. **Need to know** - things that affect my work or priorities but need no action now. One line each.
3. **The 10 most important points overall**, ranked, each in one sentence with a note on why it ranks there.
4. **Safe to ignore** - what I can skip, grouped, with a short reason (not relevant to my role, repeats something above, already resolved, purely informational, low impact).
5. **Watch list** - items that are not important yet but could become important, and the signal that would change that.

Rules:
- Judge relevance against my role and priorities, not general importance.
- Don't drop anything with a deadline, a request addressed to me, money, legal, or safety implications into "ignore"; when in doubt, put it under "need to know" and say why.
- Be brief. The point is to save me reading time.
```

## What to fill in

- e.g. "finance manager; closing Q3, hiring two analysts"
- AREAS

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.