Eisenhower Matrix: Decide Better, Get President-level Results

The Eisenhower matrix, also known as the urgent-important matrix helps you prioritize tasks on urgency and importance. Less urgent and important tasks are sorted out—those you should delegate or delete altogether. The name comes from the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower had to continuously make tough decisions. Decision-making was his main work. This led him to invent the Eisenhower matrix, which today helps you set priorities. Using the tool, you figure out which of your tasks are to be done first, to be scheduled for later, to be delegated, and to be deleted.

You have time to do anything. But you do not have time to do everything. This is why determining what to tackle first is indelible. Effective prioritization does that for you. Productivity isn’t about doing. It is about getting things done. Important things. Your most impactful, important, urgent tasks need to get immediate attention. That is what the Eisenhower matrix aims to do: to help you distinguish important and urgent tasks so you can get your work done efficiently. In a 1954 speech, Eisenhower said, “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”

Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, took Eisenhower’s words and slapped them together into a two-by-two matrix. This tool divides your tasks into four categories: do, decide, delegate, delete. Urgent and important tasks might seem similar, but when you analyze them using the matrix, differentiating them is crucial. This distinction is what reveals to you what tasks to jump on now, and which would be better handled by team members. Urgent tasks require immediate attention. Important tasks may not, but these are the tasks that propel you toward your long-term goals. When something is urgent, it has to be done now, and there are consequences if the tasks are not completed within a certain timeline. Whereas the important but not necessarily urgent tasks can be the actual drivers of progress.

Once you are able to distinguish urgency and importance, you are ready to use the Eisenhower matrix. Finishing a project with a last minute due date, a client request, or a busted pipe in your apartment could be urgent. I believe you. But planning out a long-term project, networking to build a support web, and regularly writing to progress on your book is important.

The quadrants go as follows: the urgent and important, the do, the tasks that are both time-sensitive and crucial like medical emergencies or preparing for an imminent presentation—concentrate your energy here; the important but not urgent, the decide, the tasks that are important for long-term success but not time-sensitive, like developing skills, learning new concepts, planning strategies, building relationships, networking—schedule time to focus on these tasks, as spending time here reduces the stress of firefighting urgent problems down the line; the urgent but not important, the delegate, the tasks that are time-sensitive but offer no significant contribution to long-term goals, like unnecessary meetings, non-critical emails or messages, and interruptions from colleagues—delegate these tasks to others when possible; the non-urgent, non-important tasks, the delete, the tasks that are neither time-sensitive nor meaningful, like watching television, gossiping or engaging in unproductive conversation—they provide little value and can be dubbed time wasters.

Real life implications of the Eisenhower matrix:

• Personal productivity: balancing work and personal life. Complete tax filing before the deadline—quadrant one. Exercise and meditate regularly for physical and mental health—quadrant two. Attend a non-critical social event—quadrant three. And do not mindlessly scroll through Instagram—quadrant four;

• Business: prioritizing team projects. Deliver a client’s urgent project—quadrant one. Strategically plan for the upcoming quarter—quadrant two. Respond to minor customer complaints—quadrant three. Do not attend unproductive meetings—quadrant four;

• Education: studying for an exam. Completing key assignments that are due tomorrow—quadrant one. Review core concepts for long-term understanding by way of spaced repetition—quadrant two. Answer your classmates’ questions—quadrant three. Do not waste away watching irrelevant YouTube content—quadrant four.

How you might exploit the Eisenhower matrix: (1) categorize your tasks, writing them out in lists based on urgency and importance, assigning them to appropriate quadrants; (2) concentrate on quadrant two, scheduling time to work on those tasks that help prevent future crises and drive growth; (3) manage quadrant one, handling those tasks effectively and reflecting on why they became urgent—maybe your planning and delegation was subpar; (4) reduce quadrant three, delegating or saying no to tasks since these do not align with your highest priorities; (5) eliminate quadrant four, identifying and deleting pure time-wasters, replacing them with activities that recharge you, like hobbies, exercise, or meaningful leisure; (6) reflect, forming a matrix weekly or daily to assess progress and tick boxes, adjusting priorities based on shifting objectives and deadlines.

Thought-provoking insights. The Eisenhower matrix helps you focus on what truly matters. It reduces stress. It shows that you do indeed have time for high-impact work. “Time is money.” highlights the need to prioritize tasks with the highest return on investment, since you only get so much resources. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” encourages concentrating on quadrant two before quadrant one fires break out. “You can do anything, but not everything.” once again stresses prioritization. Stretch the Eisenhower matrix to fit your needs. Minimize distractions and crises. Work intentionally. Meaningful tasks deserve your time. The rest deserve second-thoughts.