EISENHOWER MATRIX: MASTER YOUR TASKS MANAGEMENT

Today our blog post is about a technique developed by the 34^th President of the United State, Dwight Eisenhower. He was a productive President, because he had a strong capacity in maintaining his productivity thanks to his strategy. The Eisenhower Matrix allows you to execute your tasks according to its degree of urgency and importance. 

How to increase your productivity?

Using this technique, organizing your tasks has become a very simple task. The matrix below shows you how you can split your tasks into 4 categories:

According to the matrix:

DO : urgent and important : Tasks to be done immediately.

SCHEDULE : important but not urgent : Tasks that can be scheduled for later.

DELEGATE : urgent but not important : Tasks that can be delegated to someone else.

DELETE : not urgent and not important : Tasks to be eliminated.

We will talk about each quadrant in the following:

QUADRANT 1 :  DO

Urgent and important tasks.

Quadrant 1 includes urgent and important tasks at the same time, that requires all the attention and focus to accomplish them. It could contain crisis, problems, or deadlines.

QUADRANT 2 :  SCHEDULE

Important tasks but not urgent.

Quadrant 2 activities are tasks without deadlines, but they are important. These tasks are mostly about creating and planning personal activities, like: reading, exercising, sports, meditating, etc. 

QUADRANT 3 :  DELEGATE

Urgent tasks but not important.

Tasks in quadrant 3 require our full attention since they are urgent tasks, but they are not that important.These tasks are mostly about solicitations by the others who have to accomplish them as they are their important tasks and own objectives, like: helping parents, doing a favor to someone, etc. 

These tasks are not important to you, but to those who ask you for their own purposes, so if you think that you waste a lot of time in this quadrant, you can say no, because it will only makes you waste your time. Focus more on your important.

QUADRANT 4 :  DELETE

Not urgent and not important tasks

Quadrant 4 is about entertainment: they are neither urgent nor useful. Per example: playing video games, connecting to social media, watching Netflix, etc. These tasks are not helpful in achieving the long-term goals.

« What is important is rarely urgent and what is urgent, rarely important»

– Dwight David Eisenhower

EXPERTS TALK: What to remember about the Eisenhower Matrix:

The matrix helps you organizing and managing your time in an efficient way, by classifying tasks according to its urgency and importance. However, to know how to practice this technique, you need to:

– List the tasks to be done and classify them by priority;

– Define a number of tasks to do per quadrant;

– Eliminate interruptions: we recommend that you try the POMODORO technique.

Preparing a task list helps you define the most important and urgent ones and lets you focus, to be more efficient, we recommend that you do not exceed 8 tasks per quadrant.

The Eisenhower Matrix allows you to increase your productivity and maintain balance in work and personal life.

Contact our agile coaching experts. We have innovative and creative solutions to all your requirements.

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