Most of us know the name Eisenhower as President Eisenhower, but before he had that gig, he was a US Army General in World War II. As you can imagine, that job came with a pretty steep to do list, and Eisenhower had to figure out a way to figure out what needed his attention and what didn’t, and he came up with the Eisenhower Matrix. I’ve always been intrigued by the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize tasks. As I wrote last week, I use Todoist, which offers four priority levels with tasks. Prior to fully adopting the Eisenhower Matrix for a week, I used the priority levels somewhat arbitrarily - some things were marked as important but weren’t, some were important but I didn’t mark it, etc. No consistency. In my mind, if it was on the list, it was important. I wanted a way to “rank” tasks better, hence why the Eisenhower Matrix was selected as my first review in this series. The basics of the Eisenhower Matrix are fairly simple: every task you have gets put into one of four quadrants based on the following: Box 1: Urgent AND Important (DO) Box 2: Urgent but NOT Important (DELEGATE) Box 3: Not Urgent, but Important (SCHEDULE) Box 4: Not Important OR Urgent (DELETE) Or, put visually: The system is likely perfect for people who are in positions of authority (say, a World War II general). For me, it has its flaws. Fair warning, this may initially seem as though I’m not a fan of the Eisenhower Matrix BUT, bear with me. Categorizing tasks as simply as “urgent” and/or “important was tough for me, in all honesty. I’ve always been strict with defining “urgent.” To me, “urgent” means “there are drastic consequences if this is not completed immediately.” Time-sensitive, in my opinion, is a better description for tasks others may define as “urgent.” “Important” is another definition that can vary - what’s important to some is not important to others. One particular section of the Eisenhower Matrix made me side eye it from the beginning. I don’t have the luxury to delegate tasks to anyone - I own a small business, but it’s just me. I jokingly refer to one of my dogs as my assistant since she hangs out at my desk all day, but she can’t type or do much other than be adorable. Another quirk of the Eisenhower Matrix is the reevaluation many tasks will need. Take, for instance, laundry. It’s important, but its not urgent. Until, that is, you’re out of clothes. Then, it becomes important AND urgent. Some tasks may not be urgent or important but to me, don’t necessitate they're deleted. For example - I have a task to journal every night. This is not urgent, and some days, its not important. But it is something I try to do every day, and so, it belongs on my list. Another barrier I faced is my own fault, but I had to stop and remember what priority levels corresponded to what quadrant. That’s my fault, but it was annoying. I usually add tasks to Todoist through the toolbar on my Mac so I can keep working - Todoist lets you do this easily with plain language. Using the shortcut of !p + number will assign the task to the corresponding priority level, but I found myself pausing when entering tasks. Not a total deal-killer, but something to consider. Looking back, I suppose I could have made a cheat sheet, but I honestly kept thinking I’d start remembering. I set-up some filters in Todoist so I could keep my workspace clear by quadrant, but there’s no shortage of apps you can use specific to the matrix. Since I kicked this off with a list of complaints, I’ll end on a positive note... This system did force me to evaluate tasks and how important they actually are. I tend to read tips and how to’s, think “oh I wanna do that!” and start. Having tasks filtered out, or seeing that red dot next to it in Todoist made me reevaluate some of those “oh I wanna”’s and see they had to wait until I knocked out more of the Do Quadrant. Thanks to Todoist and its filters, I was able to keep lists focused by tasks and their priority level. Because I have various projects, I don’t have to bounce to each checking I’ve done everything that’s important or urgent. So, overall review? If you have a hard time picking what’s important, the Eisenhower Matrix is a good place to start. For research purposes, I stuck to the “rules,” but if/when I apply this system to my final workflow, I’ll make some adjustments. To me, the pros far outweigh the cons. You can subscribe to my mailing list here. You can also follow me on Twitter or Pinterest. If you’re in need of a virtual operations manager, check out my FAQs or available services, then head over to my consultation page so we can connect.
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