The Eisenhower Matrix
Effective productivity is something many of us are working towards. Luckily, there are tools to help you get there. One of those tools is the Eisenhower Matrix.
Created in 1960 by President Eisenhower, this tool is a simple way to help you consider the long-term outcomes of your daily to-do list. It’s also an easy way to help you increase your effectiveness and productivity.
Let’s break down how the Eisenhower Matrix works. First, make a list of all of the tasks that you spend the most time on and your to-do list. Evaluate how important each task is to your goals and compare it to the time you have available. Once you’ve figured out what was the most important, you’ll break the tasks into four categories based on the urgency and importance: Do, schedule, delegate, and eliminate.
Do
Tasks in this category are the most urgent and vital tasks. These are the tasks that are too important to delegate and are too pressing to ignore. Any job listed here should be completed first.
Schedule
Anything in this category should be important, but not as urgent. These should be tasks that contribute to your goals and are still too important to delegate out. Doing these second will give you plenty of time to get these tasks done, and to get them done well. As such, this should be where you consider your “peaceful time.”
Delegate
When putting things in this category, you’ll want to think about the urgency of a task and if you must do it yourself. Put jobs in this category if they’re still urgent, but YOU don’t have to do personally. Anything in this category can be delegated to someone such as a co-worker, an assistant or an outside contractor.
Eliminate
Any task that gets put in this category is considered a time-waster. These tasks don’t help you achieve your current goals and aren’t urgent. Eliminate the tasks here by crossing it off and not worrying about them.
Once you’ve got all of your tasks organized into each category, you’re ready to hit the ground running, and watch your productivity soar!