It's worth mentioning that one of his longest-lasting accomplishments didn’t root in his presidency. Despite his influence as a general in the American army besides his other military leadership positions, Eisenhower developed a system that assisted him to prioritize his daily tasks. This efficient arrangement of priorities made him a great leader not only for the army but also for his country.
Eisenhower's "The Urgent-Important" Matrix known also as the "Eisenhower Matrix" will help you arrange your tasks by priority and increase your daily efficiency and productivity. So, let us explain how it works and how you can benefit from it in your own life:
Learn about the quarters:
Eisenhower's Matrix depends on dividing the tasks into four parts. Rows and columns help you locate tasks where columns represent urgent and non-urgent tasks, while rows indicate important and unimportant tasks. By adding columns and rows together, you get these unique quarters:
First Quarter: Act
The first quadrant contains all the most important tasks of the day. The urgent crosses with the important in this bracket and this are where all your focus goes firstly. Hence, this is what it's called "The act quarter". This means that you are obliged to do these tasks urgently, as the pre-set deadlines will move into this quarter, especially those with no flexibility. This will include meetings with clients, pre-scheduled flights, or deadlines for editorial assignments. These are the tasks you should prioritize every morning.
Unexpected plans can be also added to this quarter, and you must be ready for them. For instance, If your office loses the internet connection entirely, you will have to make room for this emergency on your agenda by quickly changing your priorities.
Second Quarter: Decide
Some people may confuse urgent tasks with important ones. This quarter will help you distinguish between both. While these tasks are certainly important to you, they can be scheduled at the right time instead of any available time on your calendar. For example, maintaining your physical health is considered an important thing, but it won't be as urgent as a project that has a fixed deadline. So, add here the task of going to the gym, and this will help you ensure that you make time for your physical health without allowing it to become a burden on you.
You can also schedule the extra family time you want in this quarter, some quality time for a hobby, or even a time for relaxing while reading a book in the afternoon.
Third Quarter: Entrust
Some tasks are urgent but not as urgent as the tasks in the first quarter. These are the tasks you can entrust to someone else if possible. It's important for those with a leadership capability to focus particularly on this quarter, whereas it's possible for the leader to get busy with details to the point that they spend a lot of time filling the first quarter while they can move some tasks to the third quarter. So, think only of the tasks that you would entrust your assistant or Head of the department with. For example, scheduling appointments on your calendar may be urgent, but it won't be as important as the meeting you're on your way to, so entrust scheduling responsibility to a secretary instead.
Fourth quarter: Discard
This is the last quarter of the Eisenhower Matrix. The tasks of this quarter aren’t urgent or important, so they should be forgotten. Some people may call this part "not necessary" or even "skip part" since you have three quarters of more important tasks to think about first.
So, some of these tasks won't even be scheduled in your calendar, such as browsing social media or taking a nap. These tasks are generally not important or urgent, even if they are attractive. Part of the reason for the success of the Eisenhower Matrix is that it shifts your attention away from these distractions to more productive projects.
Start with your own matrix:
Everyone will have a different matrix depending on their job, seniority, and priority tasks; however, here are a few tips by which you can start creating your matrix:
1. Write down your tasks:
Start by writing down each task that you hope to accomplish in the coming days and make a list of important deadlines, goals, and dates. Feel free to add even the smallest items to this list since it will be reviewed later. But since you are getting used to using a matrix to prioritize tasks, don't think about the quadrants to which each task belongs. Instead, focus first on making sure you put all your tasks in front of you, so you can decide how to organize it.
2. Start from the most important:
Now that you've made your to-do list, it's time to draw your own Eisenhower Matrix. You can draw one in a notebook or use an online program like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to do so.
The matrix will consist of four squares that together form a large square; The first quarter, the "working" quarter, is placed in the upper left corner, and the second quarter is immediately to the right of it.
The third quarter will be directly below it, and the fourth and final quarter will occupy the remaining spot in the lower right corner. Once you have completed the simple drawing, start filling in each quarter with the appropriate tasks, starting with the urgent and important tasks first, then gradually move to the remaining quarter. As you become more familiar with the mechanism of the matrix, you will organize your tasks better this way.
3. Keep this matrix with you:
The Eisenhower Matrix is not the type that stays engraved in memory unless you have an impeccable memory. When you start, keep the matrix with you. So, you can refer to it all day long, and this can be done easily.
If you track it online and can access your matrix from any electronic device, this is an important step as there will be times when the matrix may need to be adjusted due to unexpected happenings as mentioned earlier. In addition, referring to the matrix often helps ensure that you comply with the information you specify for each task.
Now that you have an idea of how to construct the Eisenhower Matrix, it's time to take advantage of it. So, take a test next week to see how prioritizing work will change your approach and affect your productivity.
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