Use the ‘Eisenhower Matrix’ to Prioritize Your To-Do List

You already know that scheduling your tasks—whether you’re time blocking, task batching, or theming entire days—is a major priority when it comes to being productive and getting stuff done. But when you have a bunch of tasks and don’t even know where to start with scheduling them, you need an efficient method to decide what to get on right away, what to delegate, and what to forget about. Essentially, not only do you need to know what you need to do, but you need to rank those tasks based on how crucial they are, how much time they'll take, and what you'll need to get them done.

What is the Eisenhower Matrix?

This assessment and productivity tool is named for former president Dwight Eisenhower, who once quoted Dr. J. Roscoe Miller’s proclamation, “I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” Apologies to Dr. Miller, but the more famous man ended up with the honor of having this system named after him. Further apologies to both men, but I didn't fully get this quote when I first read it. To me, important things are pretty urgent, even if their due date is far off. Still, the quote stands as it is and the method for prioritizing tasks that sprang from it is effective, regardless of any word salad that came first.

When using the Eisenhower Matrix, you draw a standard matrix with two intersecting lines that create four quadrants. The X axis represents urgency and the Y axis represents importance, so the top left quadrant will show you tasks that are both urgent and important; the top right quadrant houses tasks that are not urgent but are important; the bottom left quadrant is for tasks that are not important but are urgent; and the bottom right quadrant contains tasks that are not urgent and not important. This four-way divvying makes a lot more sense to me than the original claim that "the important are never urgent," because it recognizes that they can be. It looks like this:

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How to use the Eisenhower Matrix

You can create your own matrix on paper or with software like draw.io or even specialty services like eisenhower.me. Next, just plug your tasks into the matrix, sorting them by their combination of urgency and importance. The real key is what you do next.

The quadrants have secondary purposes beyond identifying what is urgent or important:

• The top left quadrant is for tasks you have to buckle down and do now.

• The top right quadrant is for tasks you need to schedule to do in the future.

• The bottom left quadrant represents tasks you need to delegate to someone capable.

• The bottom right quadrant shows you the tasks you can simply delete or put off.

Once you see all your duties on the matrix, delegate the urgent-and-not-important ones, schedule the important-but-non-urgent ones, and get to work on your pressing, upper-right-quadrant tasks. If the deadline is seriously looming, do those first before worrying about delegation or scheduling. This visual representation of how important and urgent each responsibility is can help you figure out what to devote your time to instead of wasting time panicking about how much you think you have to get done.

Use of the matrix is especially helpful for people who think visually, but don't forget that you still need to think strategically. Consider moving from the Eisenhower Matrix to a rigid to-do list, like the 1-3-5 list. That calls on you to plan your day around one major task, three medium ones, and five small ones. Obviously, those urgent and important tasks will be the first ones you try to take on, but in addition to factoring in their urgency and importance, you have to factor in the time and resources they'll take. The most urgent, important, and resource-heavy task should be your one major to-do list item. Ones that are still important but require less of you fill in those three in the middle. Five small tasks can include things that are important but not urgent and can even include the act of delegating the ones you don't have to do. The matrix is just the first step to getting to work.

I'd also recommend using a system like kanban here. You need to consider the resources you have available, not just what needs doing. It might be urgent and important to clean your home, but if you don't have supplies, the more pressing task is actually going to the store. The same goes for a project you need to work on when you're waiting on a team member to send you a crucial piece of information you can't move forward without. In that case, it would make more sense to work on a less-urgent task while you wait, even if the project is technically more pressing. Using a system that takes into account the time and resources necessary to do something will help you get a clearer picture of your prioritized tasks and make your day even more productive.

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