Most things which are urgent are not important, and most things which are important are not urgent.
Eisenhower
Sounds like a real mind bender, doesn’t it?
But this is what led Eisenhower to research and develop the famous Eisenhower Matrix.
At any given point of time we have tasks to do that should have been done yesterday, tasks to do that are urgent, tasks that we keep putting off , tasks that other people depend upon, tasks that are lying in our inbox waiting to be opened and tasks that we will probably never get to.
We’re basically running in circles.
If we complete this graded assignment due tomorrow – we probably won’t get time to study for the big test next week. If I write this article now, I probably won’t be able to finish my assignments.
This where the Eisenhower matrix comes into the picture. By organizing all your work into a neat little box.
Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States and is often applauded for his consistent productivity – that allowed him to plan and act on many projects. The method was named after him and is used to prioritize tasks between urgency and importance.
Because what is urgent ( replying to emails) may not be important( writing the manuscript for your book) and vice versa.
So, let’s dive right in!
1.The Quadrants
In this box there are 4 quadrants.
Quadrant 1
- To do now
- Urgent and important
- These are tasks that you must put on your list first – and do immediately.
Quadrant 2
- To schedule
- Important but not urgent
- Tasks that need to get done – but not right away. So, schedule them for later during the day.
Quadrant 3
- To delegate
- Urgent but not important
- These are tasks that are urgent but don’t require your immediate attention as they are not important. The idea is to delegate them to someone else.
Quadrant 4
- To delete
- Tasks that are neither urgent nor important.
- Delete these tasks and eliminate clutter.
- Or put them under a task list for “someday”. So, you can come back to these tasks on a day you have time.
And that’s all there is to it. Start jotting down tasks in each of these boxes and you’re set.
2.The Matrix
Here’s what the matrix looks like.
3.Try it out!
Hit the download button and get started.
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