Eisenhower Time Management Matrix and How to Effectively Apply

What is the time management matrix?

“The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower.

This is a famous quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower - the 34th president of the United States. He once found that when we have so much work to do, we generally don't realize what's important and what's urgent.

To avoid wasting time on useless work, President Eisenhower created a time management principles. The matrix helps users make the most of their time and is named the Eisenhower time management matrix. The strength of the matrix is its ability to help distinguish between important and urgent work.

In which:

• Important work should have a great influence on the process of achieving the goal.
• Urgent work creates a sense of urgency in terms of time.

Because human nature is prioritizing tasks that we consider urgent based on time, we often spend too much effort and energy to complete those tasks. But after that, we realize that those tasks are not so important for our goals.

Therefore, applying the Eisenhower matrix will help clarify the type of work and build a sense of commitment to the work, thereby greatly improving work performance.

The Time Management Matrix was created by the 34th President of the United States

4 boxes in the Eisenhower matrix

In the Eisenhower time management matrix, tasks are divided into 4 boxes based on the level of urgency and importance. The 4 boxes are:

• Important and urgent: Work needs to be completed immediately.
• Important, but not urgent: Work needs to be scheduled for completion.
• Urgent, but not important: This group of work can be delegated to others because these tasks should be solved immediately but not too important.
• Neither urgent nor important: They are redundant work and should be eliminated to avoid wasting time.

The Time Management Matrix divides work into 4 different groups.

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The benefits of the Eisenhower time management matrix

In daily life, people usually only look at urgent tasks when facing an overwhelming amount of work. Therefore, we will lose our inherent focus and ignore important tasks, thereby missing opportunities to accomplish goals in the best way.

In addition, without a reasonable division of work and time, some people can easily be suffocated by a large amount of work and a scarcity of time. As a result, they will become stressed when under great pressure from work. The time management matrix supports organizing tasks so that people can calm down, complete important work, and eliminate redundant ones.

Using a time management matrix will help people stay calmer at work

How to apply the Eisenhower matrix

To effectively apply the time management matrix, we must first create a To-do-list to determine all the tasks. Then, we proceed to classify these tasks into the following 4 boxes:

• Important and urgent: This group of tasks needs to be solved immediately. These tasks can include unscheduled important tasks, pre-scheduled tasks, and tasks that are due for completion.
• Important, but not urgent: These tasks will probably take more than 60% of the time to complete. However, these jobs are not too urgent, we can make a reasonable plan to complete them.
• Urgent, but not important: These tasks seem to be urgent but are not so important, such as answering letters, arranging meetings, or completing tasks delegated by others. We can arrange for quick resolution for these tasks or decline them if delegated to prioritize important tasks.
• Neither important nor urgent: This group includes redundant work that is not conducive to the achievement of the goal. We should eliminate these tasks to not waste time.

Tasks are grouped based on two core factors: urgency and importance

3 steps to effectively use the time management matrix

Do these 3 simple steps to better use the time management matrix:

• Step 1: Make a list of existing tasks to achieve goals.
• Step 2: Divide the work into 4 groups based on important and urgent.
• Step 3: Complete tasks according to the priority of each work group.

In addition, there are a few more useful tips to apply this method more effectively:

• Make a note of the things that need to be done as soon as you think of them or just remember about them.
• Ask yourself about the necessity as well as the benefits that the work brings before doing them.
• Do not put too much work into a group, should only have a maximum of 8 tasks per each.
• Only start the other groups after completing the tasks in the first group.
• Create the management matrix including both daily life activities and work.
• Build matrix tasks for a day instead of a week or a month.
• Limit yourself to being distracted by external factors.
• Plan for the next day once completing the tasks in the previous day for a smooth working process.
• Define clearly what you need to do.

The time management matrix must include both daily life activities and work

Note for time matrix design

Every method has rules to best implement. Here are the rules to apply the Eisenhower Matrix:

• Determine the necessity of work: List, identify, and cross out tasks that may be redundant and unprofitable in achieving the goal.
• Know which work is important and which is urgent: People must distinguish between importance and urgency. Besides, if you are doing jobs in group 2 but are suddenly assigned work in group 1, you must prioritize completing all the work in group 1.
• Define goals: Clearly shaping the goal will help users draw a clear matrix and define the level of importance or urgency of the work.

It is important to clearly define goals when using a time management matrix.

The above article has provided information about the time management matrix as well as how to apply this method effectively. Viindoo hopes that after this article, readers will have a better understanding of the Eisenhower matrix and can better arrange the time to work effectively and achieve the set goals.

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