Hello! In this article we will talk about one of the most effective time management tools - the Eisenhower matrix.

Today you will learn:

• What is the Eisenhower Matrix;
• How you can apply the matrix in everyday life (with examples);
• What techniques will help you save time?

“It’s a long day until the evening if there’s nothing to do,” says popular wisdom. Completely different aphorisms arise from busy people who are racing against time: “How can we add a twenty-fifth hour to the day?”

In conditions of multitasking, sooner or later every business person faces the question of proper distribution of time resources. The starting conditions are equal for every inhabitant on the planet - an hour includes sixty minutes for absolutely everyone. But how effectively people manage their time largely determines the difference between a successful person and a perennial loser.

The Eisenhower Matrix as a method of organizing time

Time management, or, is the conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities in order to increase their effectiveness and productivity.

Eisenhower Matrix is one of the popular time management tools that is used to prioritize business and personal tasks. It is based on the principle of dividing all cases into four categories, depending on their degree of importance and urgency. The matrix is ​​most convenient to use for short- and medium-term planning.

This approach was invented by Dwight David Eisenhower, an Army general during World War II and later the thirty-fourth President of the United States. The politician always admired those around him with his ability to do everything.

Once upon a time, an American searched in vain for some effective way to manage time and, not finding it among the existing ones, developed it on his own. The Time Matrix is ​​still amazing in its simplicity and genius, and millions of people around the world use it for planning.

Visually, the priority matrix is ​​divided into four quadrants, where things fit into categories: important and urgent, important and non-urgent, unimportant and urgent, unimportant and non-urgent.

The user of the matrix is ​​asked to enter all of his planned activities into these quadrants. The biggest work happens precisely when a person makes a choice between these fields, thus deciding which things need to be done first and which ones second.

Characteristics of quadrants

Quadrant A: important and urgent

This field should be used to record matters that relate to priority areas of a person’s life and cannot be delayed. These areas are usually family, career (for students - study), health and safety.

These cases correspond to the following statements:

1. Failure to do this in the near future will significantly move you away from one of your long-term life goals.

Example. You are expecting a promotion in the near future. The manager asks you to submit a progress report as quickly as possible. It is important? Yes, because you don't want to miss out on a chance for career growth. This is urgent? Yes, because now is the time to show your performance.

1. Failure to seek medical help promptly can have dire consequences.

Example. You have a toothache. Important? Everything related to health is always important. Urgently? You risk losing your tooth and won’t last long on painkillers.

Quadrant B: important and non-urgent

Successful people do most of their work in this quadrant. These are everyday activities that invariably serve to achieve major goals in all areas of life. They are all important, but there is no rush, as is the case with the A quadrant.

A successful person does not bring his important affairs to a state of emergency, but completes them gradually. He most often has time to make decisions thoughtfully, building the building of his future brick by brick.

This zone includes all everyday activities that directly relate to priority areas of life: work, family, self-development, health.

A single criterion applies to them:

• The task must be completed, but it can be postponed for a while if something important and urgent comes up.

Example. You are a programmer and must submit the program you wrote by Monday. Today is only Thursday, you have everything ready, but you decided to postpone submitting your work until Friday to check everything carefully again.

Cases from quadrant B, if not given enough attention, can migrate to quadrant A. Your goal is to prevent this from happening. It happens that an important matter appears suddenly, for reasons beyond your control. But often we ourselves bring things to this state, ignoring preventive examinations with a doctor and postponing the completion of important tasks until the deadline.

Quadrant S: Unimportant and Urgent

These tasks lie some distance from your main priorities, but doing them makes your life more comfortable and can serve you well over time.

This area contains meetings and conversations that you attend out of politeness or out of necessity, including birthdays of not very close people, unexpected household chores, and some work tasks.

Affairs of this quadrant have the following characteristics:

1. Completing this task quickly will help.

Example. You were planning to buy an air conditioner and heard about a sale that will only last for one day. Important? Not particularly. The world will not collapse unless you buy an air conditioner cheaper than you planned. Urgently? Yes, the sale is valid for one day. A nice bonus: an urgent purchase will allow you to save a little on your family’s budget.

1. Indirectly, completing these tasks may benefit the underlying goals, although this is not guaranteed.

Example. You are a journalist. You are invited to a banquet, where the editor of the newspaper you are interested in may come. Important? Not particularly, everything is too vague. Urgently? Yes, because the banquet will not last forever, you need to make a decision - either to go or not.

It is likely that you will find someone to delegate a case from this quadrant. Your spouse, acquaintance, colleague, subordinate can do some unimportant urgent work for you.

Quadrant D: Unimportant and non-urgent

All matters in this quadrant can be divided into business and entertainment. To-dos include tasks the completion of which guarantees your comfort and makes you and your life more beautiful (for example, taking care of your appearance), but the task can wait for some time.

For a woman, this could be a visit to a manicurist; for a man, it could be washing his car. Of course, these things are important in themselves, but not in relation to your main areas of life.

The second group includes a pleasant pastime. It is usually believed that there is no benefit from these tasks, they are called “time wasters”, they are presented as things that people would rather not do, and getting rid of them is a laudable goal.

You can only speak so categorically about bad habits like smoking and systematic drinking of strong alcohol. Examples of things like communicating on social networks, watching light movies, hanging out in clubs, playing computer games - all this has the right to be and is necessary for a person if it relaxes him and gives him pleasure.

Firstly, a person is not a robot, he needs to do something just for the soul.

Secondly, unimportant and non-urgent matters can be beneficial. Many computer games develop thinking, communication on social networks teaches you to express thoughts, dancing in clubs helps you warm up. In addition, it has long been known that a change of activity is the best rest.

The main condition for this quadrant is not to let it take over most of your time and ignore the main things that move you forward in life.

How to put the Eisenhower matrix into practice

So, after reviewing the theoretical part, you can experience the effect of the matrix on yourself.

1. The evening before your first experimental day, open the diary to the appropriate date and draw a four-page spread. Label them as shown in the matrix. If you don’t have a diary, you can take a regular sheet. If you always carry a tablet or laptop with you, you can create a matrix in Excel.
2. On a separate sheet of paper, write down in a column all the things you plan to do tomorrow (when you acquire the skill of quickly distributing all the things in the matrix, you will no longer need this item).
3. Read the cases one at a time and rewrite each one into the appropriate quadrant of the matrix. To do this, you only need to answer two questions: Is it important? Is it urgent?

1. In the case of the paper version, leave free space in each field - tomorrow you will remember other things to do and add them.
2. Highlight already completed tasks with a marker (color).
3. At the end of the day, transfer uncompleted tasks to the next day (be sure to rewrite them on a new spread of the diary or copy them in a new Excel tab - otherwise they will be “lost”).
4. Do not deny yourself the pleasure at the end of the day to review all the “colored” parts of your matrix, that is, all completed tasks. You will feel the satisfaction of a business man whose day was not wasted.

Example of a completed Eisenhower matrix

With our example, we will do as we advised in the previous paragraph - first we will write down all the cases in a row, and then distribute them in the matrix. In the first-person example, a professional massage therapist will reflect.

Here is his list of tasks for the day (with commentary to let the reader understand the degree of importance and urgency):

• Today there are 4 massages: at 9 o’clock, at 11 o’clock, at 15 o’clock, at 20 o’clock (during the breaks I’ll do other things);
• Go to the accounting department (according to the contract, I should receive 60% of the cost for a massage, but in fact I only receive 50% - figure out why);
• Buy food for the cat (good thing I looked - there’s only one feeding left);
• Visit a friend in the hospital (a close friend who broke his arm yesterday, bring him something tasty);
• Go to the bank, make a payment for the mortgage (today is the last day when you can pay without a penalty);
• Stop by a friend's house to pick up a tent (today is Tuesday, we're planning a family camping trip on Saturday);
• Go to the pool (the more often I go, the better);
• Buy groceries (there is still some stuff in the refrigerator, we’ll last a couple of days);
• Reply to messages on WhatsApp and VKontakte (just conversations);
• Practice English for at least 20 minutes (there are many foreigners among the clients, you need to improve your language);
• Buy a new gasket for the faucet (the faucet is still dripping, but it’s on the verge);
• Go to an appointment with an ophthalmologist (every year, just in case, I undergo an examination);
• Get a haircut (the look is still neat, but it’s better not to delay it);
• Send a book about exercises for back muscles to a colleague (I promised that as soon as I’m at the computer, I’ll send it right away).

	URGENTLY	DO NOT RUSH
IMPORTANT	Today there are 4 massages: at 9 a.m., at 11 a.m., at 3 p.m., at 8 p.m. Visit a friend in the hospital	Visit friends for a tent (family camping trip) Go to an appointment with an ophthalmologist Go to accounting Practice English
DOESN'T MATTER	Go to the bank, make a mortgage payment Buy cat food Buy a new faucet gasket Send the book to a colleague	Get a haircut Buy products Go to the pool Reply to messages on WhatsApp and VKontakte

Remember: the same thing for different people can live in different quadrants of the matrix. For example, for someone, pursuing a hobby may be both important and unimportant. You and only you can distribute your affairs as you see your life priorities.

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

Some skeptics believe that the Eisenhower matrix is ​​only suitable for managers, while a simple employee, worker or housewife will not be able to use it in practice (which is false - the matrix is ​​universal, we proved this by taking as an example the cases of a massage therapist, not a businessman).

In reality, the question is not about the possibility or impossibility of using the matrix, but about the appropriateness of its use.

The Eisenhower system is used for planning for each day. That is, we are not talking about long-term plans (build a house, go on vacation, graduate from university), but about current tasks.

On the one hand, if a person has so few daily tasks that his memory can easily cope with them, there is no point in using the table. For example, an employee’s entire plan for the day is to spend his eight hours at work and then drink beer with friends in the evening. This table is not for such people.

On the other hand, if a person has goals in all aspects of his life - in work, study, self-development, family, hobbies, if he strives to be the master of his time, and not go with its flow - such a person always has many daily tasks. And since he doesn’t want to lose sight of them, this matrix is ​​for him.

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​not a panacea for the eternal lack of time. It's more of a mini-tutorial on prioritization.

Don't be surprised if you find it difficult at first to sort things into quadrants. The moment you think and do it, you learn. And learning something valuable always involves some effort.

Don’t despair - after working with the table for several days in a row, you will acquire a skill that will turn into a skill. Subsequently, prioritization will become automatic.

So, let's summarize.

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​for people like you if:

• You constantly have to make choices about which task to take on first;
• You are ready to get to know yourself better, ready to honestly answer questions like “what is really important to me?”;
• You want to get as much done as possible - definitely more than you do now;
• You are ready to fight such a quality of yours as procrastination - chronic putting things off “for later”.

You may already be good at managing your time.

Read the statements below and ask yourself if they are true for you. If the vast majority of points do not suit you, it is advisable for you to master time management techniques.

• You always have a clear to-do list for the day;
• You respond to business emails in a timely manner;
• You don't take work home and almost never stay late after the end of the working day;
• You do not allow phone calls, visitors and social networks to significantly distract you from your main tasks;
• You don't do the work for your subordinates because you don't think that only you can do it really well;
• At the end of the day you feel almost as energized as at the beginning.

If all the previous points seem logical to you, then the last one may cause an incredulous smile: “You’re kidding! A squeezed lemon makes me feel more energetic than I do at the end of the working day.” Nevertheless, there are a large number of people who not only do not get tired, but also feel a surge of strength. And there is no secret here.

We get tired not from the amount of work done, but from stupid, disordered actions, meaningless throwing and a feeling of helplessness in conditions of chronic time pressure.

Of course, sometimes we cannot foresee everything. And our coherent plan may be shaken due to suddenly switched off office equipment, a late client or a absentee employee. Leave this aside for now.

The first thing to work on is how not to be a source of chaos for yourself, and then you can think about the influence of external unforeseen circumstances.

1. Clean your desktop from documents that you no longer work with. If you don't need them very often, put them in the closet. If you don't need them at all, add them to the trash. In a heap of papers, you can hardly find that very sheet, searching for which you will spend long minutes, irritated by fruitless efforts. Please note that the desks of successful businessmen look as if no one is working at them: most of their surface is unoccupied.
2. Get yourself a diary and do not part with him. It is impossible to remember everything, and business people have long understood the need to write down everything - meeting dates, to-dos, questions to think about. Mobile phones and laptops with their calendars are used frequently, but a paper diary will never become obsolete - if only because it cannot break or run out of charge.
3. Plan what's most important for your peak daily activity times. We are all human beings, and even the strongest members of our species are overcome by sleep. Resisting your biorhythms is a waste of time, you will still lose. What you do in an hour during the day, in the evening, with accumulated fatigue, will take you twice as long. Therefore, do not put off an urgent report until late in the evening, do not start important conversations before going to bed - both you and your partner will suffer from this approach.
4. Don't overload yourself. It's not just that your productivity will decrease. With a merciless rhythm, you will definitely “burn out”, and your body will take a rest without your consent, sending you to a hospital bed. This is where you will lose all your saved time.

Treat yourself like a thoroughbred horse - it is, of course, a strong animal, but which owner would risk driving it at a furious pace?

1. Don’t waste time on projects and affairs. Remember the famous phrase that the best is the enemy of the good? Do you feel like the more you test your project, the better it gets? It is very important here not to “overextend” the matter, otherwise you risk feeling chronic fatigue from the inability to achieve the ideal. Don't strive for perfection - these actions will waste your time.
2. Don't strive to be great at everything. It takes years to become an expert in any field. It's better to stand out in one thing than to be average in everything. The movie "Ocean's 11" talks about this. It is important to have a team where everyone is good at something, then you can easily delegate things.

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​a method of effectively organizing time, helping to 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.

The Eisenhower Matrix will help you discard the unimportant so that you can focus as much as possible on the important tasks. You will see in practice that to achieve goals it is not necessary to overcome mountains of tasks, wasting energy. You will learn to categorize things by importance and urgency.

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 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.

Example of a completed Eisenhower matrix

Let's take as a basis one day in the life of a school geography teacher.

1. Tomorrow there are 4 lessons in high school: at 8.30, 10.00, 12.00 and 14.00 (between lessons I will do social affairs).
2. We need to find out why the advance payment did not arrive on the card last month (I don’t want to go to the accounting department for cash every time).
3. I want to change my haircut and adjust my hair color (I’ve been thinking about this for a long time).
4. Send it to a colleague from another city by mail (I promised that I would do this at the beginning of the week).
5. We need to go to the supermarket (there are enough groceries left for a couple of days).

In real life there are many more tasks, but for the exercises we will make do with five points.

The result of the distribution of cases according to the Eisenhower method:

• As you already understood, the 1st point is important and necessary, we will write it in quadrant A.
• Quadrant B will fill the important but not urgent matter of the 2nd point.
• Quadrant C will contain the urgent but not important task of point 4.
• Things numbered 3 and 5 go to quadrant D. They are not urgent and not the most important, but they will bring you pleasure and allow you to relax.

Now try it yourself.

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 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.

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.

Use these tips when implementing the Eisenhower Method:

1. Don't overload yourself with unimportant things.
2. Keep your workplace clean and don’t waste time looking for documents; train yourself to be tidy.
3. Try to do important things in the first half of the day, and not in the evening, when activity declines.
4. 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.

Conclusion

So, the Eisenhower matrix is ​​an example of the distribution of cases. Voltaire said: “In the morning I make plans, and in the afternoon I do stupid things.” Eisenhower provided the perfect method for avoiding this nonsense. Help yourself become happier and more successful. Use the table in practice, and the result will not take long to arrive.

Time is not under our control, but we can manage our time effectively.

You had a ton of plans for the weekend, but ended up spending time watching the show and doing nothing? Or maybe you are overwhelmed with tasks at work, and the avalanche of urgent tasks is increasing every day? You've probably heard that making to-do lists can get things moving. But sometimes this doesn’t really help and the tasks included in the to-do list remain unfulfilled. Why? Because the list is incorrect and/or you are doing things in the wrong order. Will help solve these problems Eisenhower matrix, she is also priority matrix. This is exactly what we propose to talk about.

Eisenhower's Priority Matrix - What is it?

This priority setting and time management tool is named after its inventor, one of the American presidents - Dwight David Eisenhower. The main idea behind the priority matrix is ​​this: tasks are sorted into four groups depending on two criteria - urgency and importance of their implementation. Wherein not all urgent things are important and not all important things are urgent. In order to successfully cope with tasks, you need to understand which group to classify this or that task into, and this will tell you when to take on it.

This method - if used correctly - will allow you to complete all tasks on time and avoid things clinging to each other, forming an avalanche of unresolved problems.

How to make a to-do list based on the priority matrix?

Let us repeat: in order to outline an action plan in accordance with the Eisenhower matrix, all tasks on the list must be divided into 4 main categories:

• category A: important and urgent;
• category B: important but not urgent;
• category C: urgent but unimportant;
• category D: not urgent and unimportant.

The most convenient way is to draw a sheet of paper into four large squares and label each of them with the corresponding color and letter, and then enter the tasks. Let's look at all the categories in more detail, with examples.

1. Category A

Important and urgent matters– situations when deadline is on or come force majeure. Today is the last day to pay the mortgage this month, a report for your boss should have been sent yesterday, and in the evening you go to the doctor because of acute tooth pain - this is all category A. If you distribute your tasks correctly, then this item will be contain the least number of tasks, and even better if it is completely empty.

2. Category B

Important but not urgent matters- they must be the main part of the to-do list. These are the things that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow can move to category A if you don’t do them today. They are important, but there is a small time buffer and they can be put aside for a while. This includes daily work tasks, replacing a faucet in the bathroom that is still working but has already started to drip, purchasing concert tickets in advance. Also included in this category are things related to your global life goals. For example, if you want to open your own business or find a new job and for this you need to master a new skill, learn another foreign language, take on an additional order to generate capital, etc.

3. Category C

Urgent but unimportant matters. This is what follows finish today because the next day will be late or inappropriate. Group C plans may be aimed at creating comfortable living conditions and establish social connections.

This may include timely congratulations to friends and colleagues on the holidays or a trip to the country to help parents collect crumbling berries. Another example is buying a new TV at a big discount. If it were not for the promotion, you would have purchased it much later, but if you get together in a short time, you will get what you want more quickly and cheaper. In other words, performing actions from category C is not critical, but it is better and more comfortable to do them on time.

4. Category D

Non-urgent and unimportant matters. The most insidious category, which mainly includes "chronophages" or "time killers"(literally “time eaters”, “time killers”). This item includes watching movies, talking on the phone with friends, reading books, scrolling through the news feed. To resist the urge to perform these actions instead of tasks from the first three categories, you need to have well-developed willpower, be able to pull yourself together and concentrate on what you need, and not on what you want.

After you distribute your tasks into four columns, start doing them from the first point. If you learn to follow the priority matrix, you will not only complete tasks on time, but also leave time for fun - for non-urgent and unimportant tasks.

1. At first it may be difficult to distribute tasks correctly. To make the process easier, ask yourself questions: “Is this task important? Is it within the scope of my life priorities? Will failure to do so lead to trouble?” If yes, then it’s important. To understand whether a matter is urgent, think about whether it will lose relevance in the near future? If yes, then the task is urgent.

2. Try to leave Category A list empty - remember that all unfulfilled plans from group B migrate here. In addition, this same group includes various force majeure events that you could not have foreseen in advance. Let us repeat that ideally, with proper time management, there should be no urgent and important tasks. The exceptions will be the same force majeure, as well as:

• health plans;
• actions on which the fulfillment of important goals depends (if you want to go abroad in the summer, it is better to apply for a foreign passport in advance);
• matters, failure to comply with which threatens to lead to trouble in the future (a fine not paid on time may prevent you from traveling abroad).

3.
Category B – for the most promising tasks. Statistics show that those who pay special attention to goals in this category are more successful, move up the career ladder more confidently and, accordingly, earn more. This is explained, among other things, by the fact that thanks to the timely completion of tasks (at a calm pace, without haste), concentration and the ability to prioritize, a person can fully demonstrate his talents and think about this or that step.

4. Some tasks from category C it would be more correct to classify them as distracting, since they can reduce the efficiency of your work and eat up quite a lot of time, although they are not important. This includes congratulating distant relatives, buying a new sofa and other non-essential matters. It is important to be able to distinguish them from category B tasks and, if possible, delegate their implementation to other people.

5. Problems D, or time wasters, we can safely call unproductive. However, you can bring value to your leisure time. For example, read a good intellectual book instead of a pulp novel, go in for sports when you want emotional release. If you can’t resist the temptation to waste time on something useless, reduce such spending to a minimum: to do this, first complete tasks from other categories.

When you master the principle of how the Eisenhower Matrix works, you will become not only successful, but also a more balanced and optimistic person, as you will stop worrying about annoying but important little things that you didn’t have time for before.

Why is it so difficult to choose between priority and secondary tasks? Research by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio shows that decision-making is inextricably linked to emotions. It is therefore not surprising that anxiety and depression are often characterized as states of being stuck and unable to make decisions. Using simple tools like the Eisenhower Matrix helps not only to understand matters, but also to reduce emotional stress. Over time, by mastering the principles of this concept, you can easily and quickly determine the difference between important, urgent, unimportant and useless.

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​believed to have a lot to do with the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower: “I have two problems: an urgent one and an important one. Urgent is not important, but important is urgent.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower is best known as the 34th President of the United States (from 1953 to 1961). Before becoming president, he was a general and commanded Allied forces during World War II. In 1950, Eisenhower became NATO's first Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

Specific professional activities constantly forced Eisenhower to make tough decisions and focus on various tasks every day. To optimize the process, he created his method, which became widely known as the Eisenhower matrix. Today, it can be used not only by generals, but also by ordinary people, including housewives - it helps to prioritize current tasks and put things in order.

How to use the Eisenhower Matrix

This tool is suitable for those who are willing and able to assess the importance of their tasks and clearly categorize them. The method involves dividing tasks and actions into four groups:

1. urgent and important;
2. important but not urgent;
3. urgent but not important;
4. not urgent or important.

The ultimate goal of the Eisenhower Method is to help filter unimportant matters from important decisions and focus on what really matters.

If you imagine the Eisenhower matrix as a picture, it will look like this:

The meaning of quadrants in the matrix

Tasks are assigned to specific quadrants, which in turn determine when and how long you can complete a task.

• Quadrant I - “Do it now” (urgent and important)

This includes priority tasks that require immediate attention. They have strict deadlines and must be completed above all else and personally.

• Quadrant II - “Decide when you will do it” (important but not urgent)

This quadrant is the strategic part of the matrix, ideal for long-term development. The elements it includes are important but do not require immediate attention. At the same time, tasks have a certain deadline and are also completed personally.

• Quadrant III - “Delegate to someone” (urgent but not important)

Phone calls, emails, and scheduling meetings and events fall into this quadrant. These types of tasks typically do not require personal attention because they do not involve a measurable outcome. Quadrant III helps minimize distractions from important work. By delegating, you can focus on bigger things.

• Quadrant IV - “Do it later” (not important, not urgent)

Activities that fall into Quadrant IV are ancillary activities that do not add any value. Simply put, this is something that can always be put off without fear of any consequences. These things take up time and interfere with the more important tasks you put in the first two quadrants.

Selecting a color for the matrix

Assign each quadrant of the matrix a color and associate it with a priority level.

For example:

Red = urgent.

Yellow = important, but not very urgent.

Green = urgent but not important.

Gray = not urgent, not important.

As you use the matrix for professional purposes, you will find that most problems fall into quadrants I and III. Quadrant II activities produce the most significant results because they are business goals that affect the long-term success of the business, yet they are rarely classified as urgent.

The hardest thing to understand is what distracts you from your planned course. But if you can deal with this fundamental problem of time management, you will get rid of thoughts about wasted hours. Ask yourself two questions to help you decide on your long-term decision-making strategies:

• When will you work on important but not urgent tasks?
• When can you take the time to tackle important tasks before they suddenly become urgent?

It is worth remembering that sometimes tasks from one quadrant unexpectedly fall into another. If an emergency occurs, your priorities will change. For example, you own a small business and a dissatisfied customer calls and asks to speak with a manager because of a delay in delivery. This problem will immediately rise above other elements in the matrix.

The distribution of tasks across quadrants has some features that need to be taken into account:

1. To-do lists make life easier. Make sure that when assigning tasks, you ask the right questions to help you determine what needs to be done first. The key feature is priority.
2. You can add many activities and tasks to each quadrant, but it is best to keep the maximum number to no more than eight items. Otherwise, you will move away from the main goal - completing the task.
3. Create separate matrices for your professional and personal life.
4. Only you can determine the priority level of the items in your list. Start every morning with the to-do list from the matrix, and by the end of the week you will see the result.

Eisenhower matrix template

To simplify the task distribution process, use a template developed by Evernote:

The Eisenhower Matrix can be translated into project management software Trello. Make a to-do list for each of the four boards (= quadrant) and make a separate “Inbox” board where all tasks will go before being distributed to quadrants. This will allow you to visually assess your workload.

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​a simple tool to help you avoid the state of analysis paralysis that occurs whenever you don't even know where to start.

The technique is popular due to its apparent ease of use, it’s useful to know about it, it’s definitely worth a try, so let’s figure it out.

Dwight Eisenhower, Army General and 34th President of the United States, was unlikely to have studied the theory of time management and techniques for efficient use of time. But it was his phrase “Not all urgent things are important and not all important things are urgent” that best describes the principle underlying the method called the Eisenhower matrix.

Problems that the Eisenhower Matrix helps solve

Sometimes you work all day without straightening up, you manage to do a bunch of things, you literally spin around like a squirrel, but the result is only fatigue and no satisfaction. Because it’s not very clear how all this labor heroism brought you closer to your goal.

In time management, this is called the problem of goal setting, and its consequences can be the most destructive - life turns into a grueling marathon with rare breaks and an incomprehensible result.

It is important to understand that the problem is not that we work little or poorly, but that before starting any business we do not set the right goals and do not define priorities. One way that can help sort this out is to use the Eisenhower Matrix to quickly sort tasks by priority.

The essence of the Eisenhower matrix

This technique helps you quickly sort through your to-do list, even if there are a lot of them. Outwardly, everything looks extremely simple - we look at the list of tasks and answer two questions for each one.

• It is important?

• This is urgent?

Take a sheet of paper and divide it into four parts. We get four squares in which we enter the answers to these two questions.

What does the Eisenhower Matrix look like?

Quadrant A: important and urgent matters

• Things that, if not completed, jeopardize the achievement of the goal.
• Problems that need to be solved in order to avoid big difficulties in life.
• Health issues.

If you are a monster of efficiency, then this quadrant will be empty for you: you simply will not get things done until you get into the “fire” sector. But you're not an efficiency monster (and neither are we), so that's unlikely to happen. The most important thing is that things happen there infrequently and in small quantities. If half of your task list is there, it's a disaster.

However, there is no need to panic. In order for this quadrant to be empty, you first need to work on maintaining the other sectors.

Quadrant B: important but not urgent matters

• Primary activity.

This is where tasks live that need maximum attention. Those who work well with this quadrant will be successful in achieving their goals. Important tasks that are not burning, which means we don’t do them in a state close to panic. There are no obstacles to performing them as efficiently as possible. Just don’t delay - tasks from this quadrant can move to sector A.

Quadrant C: urgent but not important matters

• Distractions.

Completing these tasks does not help you achieve your goal; they prevent you from focusing on what is really important, reduce your efficiency, and exhaust you.

Insidious quadrant - there is a risk of confusing matters from this sector with matters of quadrant A and resulting in confusion in priorities.

Quadrant D: Not urgent or important matters

Paradoxical quadrant, because this is where business lives:

• not providing any benefit;
• our favorites.

Listen. Our favorite music plays here, a comfortable chair awaits, and virtually no brain involvement is required.

How to Apply the Eisenhower Matrix to Time Management

There are many different, sometimes not very compatible, methods and techniques in time management. And this is not a disadvantage, since people are different. What works great for one person won't work for another. Therefore, you will inevitably have to try different techniques, choosing the right one.