An Introduction to the Eisenhower Matrix

By Grace Sweeney.

 

Credits: Unknown

The to-do list stretches out like a marathon track in front of you. Jobs around the house bombard you with cries for attention. That hankering for just a quick youtube video returns. Siblings scream in the background, asking you to help with this or do this with them.

Anyone relate? Focusing is hard. Being productive is hard. And the already difficult job of staying focused on a single task becomes even more difficult when there are dozens of things that require your attention. 

Managing a to-do list is a skill that takes a lot of time to master. Whether you’re a young teen or an older person working day job, to-do lists can easily get out of control and become overly intimidating. When they reach that point, who wants to touch the monster?

There are solutions, and this one is called the Eisenhower Matrix. It’s a system that was first introduced by Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States. It’s a very simple system that actually works. I’ve gotten to the point where I use it on a daily basis without even thinking about it, and I can say with certainty that this way of thinking about productivity is a life changer.

 

How Does It Work?

The Eisenhower Matrix works within four quadrants of priority, as you can see in the diagram above. Each of your tasks on your to-do list will fit into one of these categories. Once you’ve sorted them out, the to-do list will feel much more manageable.

 

Urgent and Important

The first quadrant is for the tasks that are both important and require immediate attention. They’re the urgent tasks, the ones that absolutely cannot be put off and have to be done by you. This is what you’ll be focusing on most heavily every day.

An example of what could fit into this category could be something like handling an important phone call, finishing a homework assignment, or applying for something. All of those things will (probably) have a deadline, and they have to be done by you.

 

Important and Not Urgent

This category is for the important tasks as well, but these are the tasks that aren’t urgent. They’re important, but it won’t really matter if you do them tomorrow or next week. It’s important to make sure to schedule time to take care of these tasks, because otherwise they’re easy to put off.

This could be something like writing in your novel on a daily basis. It’s so easy to push aside in favor of the more urgent things, but it’s important to still block out time to work on them, because they are important.

 

Urgent and Not Important

The tasks that go into this category are usually urgent, but not important. It could be something like responding to emails, going through notifications, or going shopping. They need to be done soon, but spending too much time on them now will feel like wasted time later. Sometimes these tasks can be delegated to other people who are in a better place to work on.

 

Not Urgent and Not Important

These tasks aren’t time-sensitive and they’re not important. In other words, you probably shouldn’t spend much time at all on these. Playing video games, browsing the internet, or staring mindlessly out the window imagining what it would feel like to be a squirrel would fall into this category.

 

How Is The Matrix Used?

Take a look at your to-do list, in all its long, overwhelming, messy glory. Each of the tasks on there will fit into one of the four categories.

For each task, ask yourself if it’s in line with your long-term goals and values. If the answer is yes, it’s probably important. If you’re unsure, ask if this task helps someone else more than it helps you. If the answer is yes, it might not be as high on the importance scale, but it could be urgent.

Then, ask yourself if there will be consequences if this task isn’t done right away. If there will be consequences, then it’s urgent. If something will take more time than its worth, it probably isn’t important or urgent.

Once you’ve gone through this process with everything on your to-do list, start by prioritizing the important and urgent tasks. Those are what you’ll want to focus on each day. Then, you’ll need to set aside specific times to work on the important but not urgent tasks.

Check to see if you can delegate the urgent and unimportant tasks to someone else. If you can’t, set aside some time to do that section of the lit after the urgent/important things are finished.

The last category should only be touched if you have spare time when you really shouldn’t be doing anything else.

The end goal is to manage and reduce the important/urgent tasks, spend a lot of time working on the important things, and not spend too much time on what isn’t important.

This system has been used by many people, and I’m pretty confident it can help you too. It’s been a great help to me as things have gotten more and more busy over the past few months.

Try it out this week, and let me know in a comment how it works for you!

 

 

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