The Eisenhower Matrix as a Priority Setting Tool

The Eisenhower Matrix is a method of effectively organizing time that helps you achieve quick and significant results and always be on time.

Money can’t buy time, but I would like to master the secrets of existence and add at least another hour to the day. It's simple: planning is your ideal assistant on the path to well-being. It is planning that will help you get out of a constant state of time pressure and avoid irritability and disappointment.

The Eisenhower Matrix helps you achieve more and solves important planning problems. Feeling like a squeezed lemon is the standard state most people feel at the end of the working day. The situation can be changed with a 180 degree turn.

For the first time, an outstanding politician, and formerly a talented military man, the 34th President of the United States, Dwight David Eisenhower, began a serious search for a solution to the problem of effective time management. More and more people prefer to use the Eisenhower matrix to achieve efficiency in business.

Creator of the Eisenhower Method

Dwight David Eisenhower was born in 1890 into an ordinary family. In 1909 he graduated from school, then 4 years of study at the military academy. With particular passion, Eisenhower studied the biography of Lincoln and the greats of this world. The parents supported their son in everything. The support of loved ones in his youth would have a positive impact on Eisenhower's career in the future.

Resignation in 1948 did not mark the end of active work. After Eisenhower became rector of the Columbia Institute, and at the beginning of 1953 he took the post of President of the United States - he was later elected to this post several times. The politician faces the question of effective time management, and Eisenhower solves it.

The Eisenhower Matrix as a method of organizing time

Now we clearly understand that time management is a tool that helps to effectively plan tasks and manage time while saving energy. In the 1950s, Eisenhower did not know this.

The Eisenhower Matrix was created to help solve urgent and important problems. It is not recommended for use in long-term planning, but for daily goal setting, this method has no equal. The simplicity of use makes the Eisenhower pyramid accessible to all people.

Increase productivity and optimize costs by putting the Eisenhower principle into practice. Help yourself get rid of eternal worries and worries.

Use the Eisenhower Matrix as a prioritization tool. Visually, these are 4 quadrants, in each of which tasks for the current day are noted. The main thing is to accurately differentiate them by degree of urgency and importance.

Conventionally, these quadrants are divided into:

Quadrant A (important and urgent);
Quadrant B (important and not urgent);
Quadrant C (not important and urgent);
Quadrant D (not urgent or important).

“Is it such a simple task to just fit tasks into quadrants?” you might think. This method is really simple, but like anything you need practice to hone your skills.

Covey Quadrants: Case Structure Matrix

Prioritization according to the Eisenhower matrix involves grading all matters and tasks into 4 blocks according to their importance and urgency of completion:

important/urgent;
important/non-urgent;
unimportant/urgent;
unimportant/not urgent.

If you pre- upload your tasks - write down all the nearest and distant tasks into one list, then you can easily fill in any Stephen Covey square. It is enough to assess the significance and urgency of all existing tasks.

How to divide tasks using the Eisenhower matrix?

Block A – Important/Urgent. These are fire cases that require immediate resolution. This is a report that should have been submitted to the boss yesterday. Preparing for a test that starts in an hour. A sick tooth in need of treatment.
Block B – Important/Non-urgent. This usually includes strategic tasks. They need and are important to do, but it is not necessary to do them today. As an example, you can use the implementation of a plan to fill out a website, learning a foreign language, or jogging in the morning.
Block C – Unimportant/Urgent. All popular chronophages correspond to this quadrant of the Eisenhower matrix: calls with requests to do something; the article that was advised to read, the search for pseudo-important things and the solution of pseudo-important problems. That is, we believe that the tasks being solved are important, but in reality they can be easily postponed or even delegated.
Block D – Unimportant/Non-urgent. The list in this quadrant can be very large, but most often these are “entertaining and exciting” things.

Characteristics of quadrants

To help you understand how to fit tasks into the quadrants, below is a detailed explanation for each of them.

Quadrant A (important and urgent)

If this quadrant has 2 or more items daily, pay attention to self-discipline. Ideally, there are no records in this sector. This indicates a person’s organization and active life position. In case of laziness and eternal procrastination “for tomorrow,” quadrant A will always be filled.

How to correctly distribute tasks in a table

Let us select the main ones from the above for the convenience of using the Eisenhower method. Distribute tasks in the table according to 4 quadrants:

Priority important and urgent tasks that must be completed without delay.
Important but not urgent tasks that should be completed as soon as possible. They have a big impact on the final goal, but they don’t “burn.”
Unimportant and urgent tasks that are unlikely to affect the positive outcome of something.
We allow ourselves to do things that are not important or urgent when we want to relax and get distracted.

You will become a master when there is a dash on the list of urgent and important tasks in the A quadrant. Hurry is depressing, doesn’t allow you to catch your breath, and the quality of the completed task often leaves much to be desired. Do not rush to be upset if at first the to-do list in quadrant A is longer than in the other quadrants. You are not the first to learn from your mistakes. Given your experience, in the future you will be able to cope with difficulties and bring the filling of the Eisenhower table to automaticity.

How to put the Eisenhower matrix into practice

The time has come to implement the acquired knowledge. You know enough to start using the Eisenhower planning method in your life.

Follow these simple rules to avoid common beginner mistakes:

It is better to outline a list of tasks in the evening. Decide right away which one is more convenient for you to use. This could be a notepad, a tablet, or the Eisenhower Matrix in Excel on your phone. Even a regular A4 sheet will do. The main thing is that the data is always at hand.
While you are a beginner, write a list of all your to-dos on a separate sheet of paper and only then enter it into the Eisenhower table. Later, you can skip this point and immediately classify tasks by importance and necessity.
Read the task list carefully, while asking yourself the question of urgency.

When classifying cases on the Eisenhower Scale, ask yourself:

Is this task within the realm of my priority values? If the answer is positive, then it is important, if negative, it is not important.
Will there be negative consequences for me if I don't complete this task? This question will also determine the degree of importance.
The degree of urgency is determined by the duration of the task's relevance. If it is impossible to complete a task tomorrow, then urgency is paramount.

Be sure to leave free space on your to-do list if you have compiled it on paper. You can supplement it. You need to move tasks unfinished today to your task list for the next day. If you read the article carefully, you understand that unfinished business will be present on the Eisenhower table every day.

Tips for using the matrix

Use colors to represent squares . This will help you quickly navigate tasks and prioritize.

Separate personal and professional tasks . This way you will avoid cluttering the matrix and will be able to decide in what sequence to do everything.

Limit the number of tasks per square . This way you will get rid of unnecessary burden. 5-6 points per square is more than enough.

Plan in the evening . In the morning, it will be more difficult for you to remember what was done and what wasn’t. In addition, you will have more time for breakfast and getting ready for work.

Practice the pomodoro technique . Set a timer for 25 minutes and try not to be distracted during the session, then rest for 3-5 minutes and return to work. After every fourth pomodoro, take a long break (15–30 minutes).

Use scheduling apps . We have prepared a list of the best applications that will improve both personal and team work.

Under what conditions will the Eisenhower Matrix be useful to you?

The matrix helps in planning complex and important tasks. Understand how the method works and apply it to short-term planning.

Feel free to use the Eisenhower table in life if:

it is difficult to determine the primary task, it is difficult to understand where to start;
be honest with yourself and truthfully answer questions asked when planning;
want to optimize time costs;
you know that you are capable of more, but you don’t understand how to achieve a better result;
stop putting things off until tomorrow.

In order to achieve results, it is not enough to study the Eisenhower matrix. Only by applying this knowledge in practice will you see the effect.

Highly effective time management using the Eisenhower matrix

If you look at the structure of each block with an open mind, you will see the features of each square:

Square A – constant time pressure, “fire”, nerves and a reactive rhythm of life.
Square B – solving strategic problems, proactivity, working for results and success.
Square C – chronophages in their different variants.
Square D – procrastination.

That is, when determining priorities using the Eisenhower matrix, only the affairs of the second block deserve attention. But in fact, we are dealing with the tasks of “urgent” squares,” wasting our nerves and being distracted by unnecessary factors.

What to do with this knowledge?

Everything is very simple. Planning time according to the Eisenhower Matrix involves a proactive approach and the use of the best time management tools.

You can use:

ABCD method.
Strategic cardboard.
Goal tree.
Franklin's Pyramid.
The "eating the frog" method.

Almost all of them, to one degree or another, will allow you to competently distribute the squares of Stephen Covey’s time in everyday life and abandon unnecessary and meaningless activities.

You may already be good at managing your time.

What if you don't need Eisenhower's methods and are just fine with problems without tables? Ready to decide right now?

Then answer these questions honestly:

Do you always make a to-do list?
Do you respond to emails on time?
Do you go home on time and working on the weekend is not about you?
Does social media and chatter interfere with important tasks?
At the end of the day, are you irritable and feeling like you could have done more?
Do you always pay due attention to your family?

Think about whether you want to change the current state of affairs or leave everything as it is. Eisenhower Table - Your planning assistant.

First square: the most important and urgent matters

In the first segment of the square of the Eisenhower matrix, you should write down the most important things that need to be done immediately.
If this planning system is used correctly and continuously, this list should always be empty. The essence of the matrix comes down to being able to do important things on time and avoid rush jobs. Of course, if you are just starting to use this planning system, there may be 1-2 positions in this category. What important tasks might be worthy of placement in the “What needs to be done urgently” block? A student in this category can post an exam, a company manager can post a meeting with business partners, a housewife can post an emergency call in case of problems with the plumbing. Your to-do priority assessment schedule should cover all areas of your life. Family plans and affairs, visits to doctors and stylists, shopping trips - all this should be entered into the Eisenhower matrix. For example, if you have a very bad toothache, a visit to the dentist can be included in the first square of your daily plan (as an important matter that cannot be postponed).

A few related tips for organizing and saving time

Use these tips when implementing the Eisenhower Method:

Don't overload yourself with unimportant things.
Keep your workplace clean and don’t waste time looking for documents; train yourself to be tidy.
Try to do important things in the first half of the day, and not in the evening, when activity declines.
Best the enemy of the good. Take the matter seriously, but without fanaticism.

And one last piece of advice. Choose one direction in which you prefer to understand best. It's impossible to know everything.