The Eisenhower Matrix
“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
-Dwight Eisenhower
The Eisenhower Decision Matrix is a tool that General (and later President) Dwight Eisenhower used to plan out his day and decide how to prioritize his tasks. The matrix was later revamped in 1989 by Stephen Covey in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
The Eisenhower Matrix is a time-management strategy that helps you prioritize, delegate, schedule, or delete tasks.
Using this tool, or some variation of it assists leaders in time management and keeps the day from being derailed altogether. People often use this already and don’t even know that they are. The matrix is a great tool and can be tailored to fit either personal or professional life. It does not necessarily need to be a written box, a to-do list for the day can be just as effective as the full four-quadrant matrix. The most important part is the thought process and thoroughly thinking about each task and its priority.
For further reading on The Eisenhower Matrix, we recommend:
Eisenhower Presidential Library
Eisenhower Matrix
“Why Your Brain Tricks You Into Doing Less Important Tasks: Yet again, your brain is working against you, and it’s because of a phenomenon called the urgency effect.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/smarter-living/eisenhower-box-productivity-tips.html
