The Eisenhower matrix as a prioritization tool: urgent or important? An example of the distribution of cases using the Eisenhower matrix.

Since the thirty-fourth president of the United States, like any head of state, was a very busy person, he developed his own methodology for setting priorities in the process of doing any business. He created the so-called Eisenhower matrix, which allows a person to concentrate on the most important things, while ignoring minor tasks that are not useful.

The Eisenhower Priority Matrix is ​​a table of four quadrants. At the same time, any business can be included in it depending on two parameters: urgency and importance.

The "A" quadrant is where things are most important and need to be done urgently. The "B" quadrant includes non-urgent tasks, the completion of which is of high enough importance. Things that are not particularly important for the performer are placed in the C quadrant, but they need to be done immediately. Things that are in the last D quadrant do not require quick action and are not considered important.

In order to understand the whole essence of such a tool as the Eisenhower matrix, it is worth considering each of the quadrants in more detail. Otherwise, the effectiveness of its use will be reduced to zero.

Quadrant A: important and urgent matters

The matrix in which this quadrant is empty can be considered ideal, since the importance and urgency of the matter implies a situation close to emergency. Interestingly, important tasks become urgent cause of our laziness and procrastination. Needless to say, each of us periodically faces similar situations. However, it is always impossible to work and develop in such conditions.

For this reason, it makes sense to keep cases from other quadrants out of the A quadrant. Practice shows that it is much easier to eliminate possible troubles than to deal with the consequences of those that have already occurred.

Cases that should be placed in the A quadrant include the following:

• Tasks, the failure of which at this moment will cause trouble;
• Matters related to our well-being and health;
• Tasks, if you don’t complete them, you will move away from the goal planned in advance.

Examples of such cases include:

• Completion of a project that is due soon;
• Unscheduled visit to the doctor;
• An important call to a business partner or client;
• Necessary rest due to chronic fatigue or professional burnout syndrome;
• Call a plumber to repair a leaking pipe.

It is worth noting that some cases from the A quadrant should be delegated if they do not need your direct participation.

Quadrant B: important and non-urgent matters

It is worth paying special attention to the planned cases from this sector. Practice shows that the purposeful and methodical execution of things from the B quadrant demonstrates good returns in the future. Those who pay enough attention to these particular cases are much more likely to succeed.

Since the tasks in the B quadrant are not urgent, a person has the opportunity to perform them as efficiently as possible. At the same time, you need to take into account the fact that if you did not complete certain tasks from this sector on time, there is a possibility that they will move to the “A” quadrant. Your main task is to prevent such an outcome.

Examples of cases from quadrant "B" include the following:

• Development of a plan for a new project;
• Analysis of available results;
• preventive actions;
• Establishing contacts and relationships;
• Identification of additional prospects and development of alternative projects.

Quadrant C: unimportant and urgent matters

Often, the implementation of tasks from this sector only moves a person away from the intended goal. In most cases, these cases prevent us from fully concentrating on what is really important to us.

The main mistake of many who start using the Eisenhower matrix is ​​the incorrect classification of cases. Do not confuse tasks in the A quadrant with unimportant but urgent tasks. For example, a manager gives you an instruction that is not related to your official duties. At the same time, he requires to complete the task as quickly as possible (Read - " How to say no to your boss"). In this case, it is important not to classify this case as an “A” quadrant. This task in no way brings you closer to your goals.

It is worth constantly remembering your initial tasks. Try not to scatter your attention on secondary matters.

The following cases are likely to fall into the "S" quadrant:

• Unscheduled urgent meetings;
• Sudden troubles in the form of guests who require your attention;
• Unplanned cleaning or elimination of the negative consequences of your inattention;
• Any other tasks that move you away from the original goal.

Quadrant D: unimportant and non-urgent matters

Failure to complete tasks from this sector in most cases will play into your hands. However, they can be quite light and interesting. For this reason, you should not completely get rid of them.

If you still do not have the opportunity to cross out all the tasks from this sector, proceed to their implementation at the very least, while severely limiting the time that you allocate to them.

The following tasks can be safely attributed to the "D" sector:

• Chronophages and time sinks;
• Useless telephone conversations;
• Recreational activity.

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​a great chance to get a significant additional resource in the form of free time. This tool will allow you to achieve your goals.

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What is the Eisenhower Dwight David Matrix? How did the 34th President of the United States plan the time? What principle of organization allowed to cope with a huge number of cases? I will tell about all this now.

Time management is based on the principle of planning. And the main thing in planning is the prioritization - which things should be started first and which ones should be done later.

Very simple and amazing effective methodology used by the 34th President of the United States, later it was named after his name - the Eisenhower Dwight David principle. Everyone understands that the president has a lot to do and the fate of millions of people depends on the correct planning of the time of one person.

How did President Eisenhower act?

That's how - He divided all tasks into important and urgent. To better understand the method, let's draw the Dwight David Eisenhower matrix by dividing the square into 4 equal parts. As a result, we get 4 squares. Now let's sign each with the following names: Important, not important, urgent, not urgent.

The essence of the Eisenhower principle is that when prioritizing, you must first complete all the important and urgent things. Then important and non-urgent. Next, unimportant urgent. And if there is time, finally unimportant and non-urgent.

What for?

What gives the application of the Eisenhower principle? Why draw a matrix? Why can't you do everything without any problems?

Probably, everyone was faced with a lack of time - when you want to do everything planned, but it doesn’t work out, every day gives us surprises and you have to adjust your plans, giving up the planned vacation, new work opportunities, etc.

It is impossible to predict the unplanned, which means, whether we like it or not, some plans have to be canceled. But... What if we do the main tasks first, and leave the less significant ones for later. From which it is not so a pity to refuse? For example, we will spend time with the family instead of meeting with a client who is unlikely to agree to cooperate.

This is the answer to the question: "why sort cases." We just do the main thing, and postpone the secondary and become more successful and productive in life. After all, urgent does not mean important, and vice versa.

1 square: Important and urgent

These include urgent matters, failure to comply with which can lead to negative consequences. We start all things from this section, because these are the most significant tasks for us, and besides, they are urgent. This section includes: "Urgent operation", "Unscheduled meetings", "deadline in the delivery of the project."

The main thing is that this box, ideally, should be empty, since most important tasks are not urgent at first and, with proper planning, they can be done before they become urgent. All tasks in this square appear for 2 reasons:

- dependent on us (internal reasons), then what we can influence and this is the largest share in most cases. For example: lack of professionalism, motivation, strength, etc. In general, we can remove this reason on our own;

- beyond our control (external causes): When we cannot influence them, for example, force majeure, sudden pain, urgent request for help, etc. Ideally, with proper planning, only these reasons should fall into the important and urgent square.

In addition, we all understand that it is not always possible to allocate as much time as necessary for urgent matters. An example from life is passing exams, if you prepare on the last day, then there may simply not be enough time for preparation. In addition, work in a rush mode is exhausting, worsens mental and physical condition. Therefore, all important tasks should be completed before they become urgent, that is, working with the square is important and not urgent.

2nd square: Important and not urgent

Regular completion of all tasks from this square is an indicator of your success and productivity. This square includes cases that can wait, but there will be serious negative consequences from their failure.

An important task differs from an unimportant one in that the consequences of not completing them are different.. The more important the task, the stronger the negative consequences of its failure. Therefore, we give preference to the implementation of important tasks first and only then urgent ones.

Ideally, all important tasks, both urgent and non-urgent, should be completed in full. Among the cases from this area, one can note such as: tasks for personal development, health care, for example: see a doctor in a timely manner and prevent a disease, master basic skills of English language for promotion at work, etc., as a rule, these are key tasks that can make a big difference in your life.

We all understand that in most cases it is impossible to manage everything planned. If only because unforeseen circumstances arise that make serious adjustments to the plans. Given this fact, it is better to do important tasks on which your life depends heavily than unimportant tasks. That is why it is so important to sort tasks according to the Eisenhower rule.

When we correctly distribute cases and start work with the most important ones, there are fewer rush jobs, i.e. we have time to get things done before they become urgent. And this is very important, after all, when there is not always enough time for urgent matters - they turn out to be unfinished and we test our nerves, trying to meet the deadline. At the same time, with regular work with the square, it is important and not urgent, you can devote exactly as much time to each task as it requires, as a result, the number of rush jobs and stressful situations will decrease and the quality of work will increase. By analogy from ordinary life it is better to do the prevention of the disease in a timely manner than to start it and in the end experience severe pain and serious consequences in the future.

3rd square: It doesn't matter, urgently

Urgent does not mean important, many urgent things are better not to do if because of them you do not have time for important things. To correctly understand which business is more important, simply ask the question: "What will happen if this is not done." If the negative consequences are minimal, then the matter is unimportant and should be started after the completion of more significant tasks, if not completed, there will be more serious negative consequences. Unimportant tasks include the following: a colleague called and asked for help in an insignificant task, you are offered to participate in a social network. survey or just a friend came to chat about life.

Minus urgent matters is that they interfere with effective work, because you:

Forced to interrupt important tasks;

Against the background of urgency, you begin to worry, and emotions prevent you from making the right decisions.

For example, you are working on a large project on which your career and the company's income, and at that moment colleagues call you and ask you to urgently call, print, send a document by mail, etc. Of course, you need to help colleagues, but everything has its time. First you need to do important things, and secondary things later, even if they are urgent. Just tell your colleagues that they are currently busy, and when you complete work on an important matter, call back.

If you try to keep up with all urgent matters, then life can turn into a constant time pressure, and because of the turmoil, you will worry more and less time will be able to devote to important tasks that greatly affect your life.

4 square is not important and not urgent

This is the very last to-do list that you should start, because it includes the most unnecessary tasks.

But even the most unnecessary things can also be divided into 2 parts:

1. Life trifle, such things still have value, but only if you have done all the other more important tasks from 3 squares. And what is the value? For example, dismantling the blockage on the mezzanine - it seems like a trifle, but nice, or changing a leaking faucet in the kitchen, strengthening the table so that it does not stagger. In general, such tasks create your comfort, improve your mood, so you should try to get to the 4th square in order to live more harmoniously and fully.

But if you do these little things before the more important tasks from the last 3 squares are done, then this will not bring proper satisfaction.

2. Doing bullshit. Computer games, social media networks, watching TV, drinking - all this only takes precious time. Many will say, but does it help to relax? Yes, no doubt, any bullshit activity relaxes, but not as well as a healthy vacation. A computer, TV cannot convey such strong emotions, tactile feelings, smells and other sensations as in real life. Since the computer and TV use fewer senses, the speed of recovery, i.e. rest, decreases. Alcohol is also an inefficient way to relax, because in addition to the negative impact on health, after such a rest in quotation marks - a waste, headache and other troubles.

Well, that's all bad habits are a waste of time and should be abandoned entirely, but this is the ideal case. In reality, every person has bad habits, because fighting them takes time, so all this garbage like computer games, TV, alcohol, etc. we put it in the box no matter and not urgently at the very bottom of the to-do list.

The Practice of Applying the Eisenhower Matrix by Dwight David

Let's draw 4 Eisenhower squares, denote each square with letters:

BUT. Important and urgent (red);

B. Important and not urgent (green);

AT. Not important and urgent (blue);

G. Not important and not urgent (white).

Let's start doing things alphabetically, i.e., first the tasks of point "A", then "B", "C" and at the end "D". Until we complete the tasks of square "A", we do not proceed to "B". Then, until we do point “B”, we do not start tasks from “C”, etc. In general, we work sequentially step by step without changing the order.

And now to practice, let's say we have the following list of incoming cases:

Now let's sort the list of incoming tasks, put next to each item, the letter of the square to which this task can be attributed.

Now you know where to start in order to have time to do the main thing. Just do things in Quadrant A first, then B, then C and D if you have time.

It is important to assess the degree of importance not in the mind, but on a piece of paper, because when there are more than 7+-2 tasks, the prioritization can be erroneous, since our brain is not designed for such operations in the mind. It is about 7+-2 cases that we can store in memory, the rest is forgotten. The tasks written on a piece of paper are much easier and faster, and most importantly, you can sort them more accurately, do not spare time for recording.

You can also rewrite the list in squares for clarity, especially as soon as you start using the Eisenhower method, but this is not necessary.

As you already understand, the essence of working with the Eisenhower principle is the division of tasks and concentration on the first two squares.

Working in accordance with the Eisenhower principle will help reduce the number of rush jobs at work and you will become more productive.

P.S. If you have any difficulties or questions on the article you read, as well as on the topics: Psychology (bad habits, experiences, etc.), sales, business, time management, etc., ask me, I will try to help. Skype consultation is also possible.

P.P.S. You can also take an online training "How to get 1 hour extra time". Write comments, your additions;)

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Eisenhower Matrix(priority matrix) is one of the most famous tools for managing your time. It was invented by Dwight Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States. Being the head of state is a troublesome business, such a person is always very busy, because. his work combines different functions. During the day he needs to have time to redo a lot of things.

So Eisenhower began to test different instruments time management. He wanted to find something most effective. But he never found one to satisfy him. Therefore, in the end, he created his own instrument, which later received his name.

Eisenhower's organizational skills were always and everywhere appreciated. And absolutely deserved. Now the Eisenhower matrix is ​​considered one of the the most effective funds to plan for the short term.

This wonderful tool will undoubtedly be useful to everyone. modern man. Today, everyone needs to be able to manage their time. After all, our life passes in a hurry and fuss. But, despite the gigantic efforts, rarely anyone is satisfied with the results of their activities.

More and more people are complaining about the lack of time. Although we are all given the same number of minutes each day. However, someone manages to do everything, and someone carelessly spends their time on useless things. The Eisenhower Matrix helps you organize your time properly and thereby dramatically increase your efficiency.

What
eisenhower matrix

The Eisenhower matrix is ​​used to plan for a short period of time (one or more days). it effective method processing those to-do lists that a person plans to do during this period. As a rule, people make such long lists that it is a priori impossible to redo all the cases from them.

As a result, they accumulate unfinished and. And this is dangerous, because. incompleteness not only slows down the movement towards the goal, but can generally harm further development life. After all, there is a high probability of dissipation of forces and energy on something that a person does not need at all.

The Eisenhower matrix allows you to quickly and efficiently deal with a to-do list by categorizing these tasks. As a result, a person clearly sees all the most important things, as well as those things that are not worth his attention at all.

The Eisenhower matrix consists of 4 fields (quadrants) - one for each category of cases. Categories are determined by principle of urgency and importance: important - not important, urgent - not urgent. The figure below shows how these quadrants are distributed.

Only those cases that meet the criteria of this quadrant are entered into each quadrant from the general list of cases.

Description of quadrants
matrices Eisenhower

To understand how to work with the Eisenhower matrix, first of all, you need to understand its quadrants - what to put in there. As I said, we only consider cases that you plan to complete during the day or some short period.

Quadrant 1.
Urgent and important matters.

The biggest and main secret Eisenhower matrix in that the first quadrant must always stay empty . Only in this case can we say that a person knows how to effectively allocate his time and knows how to plan well.

If there are cases that need to be entered in the first quadrant, then this means that there are rush jobs in a person’s life. He does not know how to plan properly and is used to postponing everything until the last moment. He takes up the case only when all the deadlines are about to expire.

Therefore, if you strive to be efficient, then, first of all, you should find all those reasons that interfere with your productive work. I can disappoint you that there can be a huge number of such reasons, ranging from the inability to plan and ending with procrastination.

Naturally, all these obstacles must be removed first. Otherwise, it is not worth talking about efficiency at all.

Still, sometimes there may be some unforeseen cases that need to be brought into the first quadrant. But be careful. Remember that there are two main criteria for selecting these cases:

1. 1. Failure to complete the task threatens to throw back in achieving the goal.
   2. Failure to do the job can lead to trouble - poor health (with a toothache), a fine (in case of non-payment of a loan), flooding (when a pipe leaks), etc.

Of course, it is best to think about this in advance and avoid such situations altogether. It is always much easier to prevent possible troubles than to eliminate the consequences. Think and do everything on time. Well, if the cases from this quadrant do not need your direct participation, then they should generally be delegated to someone.

Quadrant 2.
Important and not so urgent matters.

Eisenhower considered dealing with cases in this quadrant the most important. If a person puts a task here in a timely manner and consistently executes it, then he can devote as much time to this task as it requires.

Moreover, he can work without haste, fuss and not suffer later from various harmful effects. So, a preventive examination at the dentist will protect against unexpected toothache, and timely work on the report will save you from night processing.

In this group of tasks, it is imperative to include cases that are aimed at achieving your goals.

These are the things you need to focus on. maximum attention and this is where you need to put all your strength. For the purposeful and methodical execution of the affairs of this quadrant guarantees greater returns in the future.

Must be on the to-do list of the second quadrant must be turned on personal growth, self-development, health care tasks. After all, this is the foundation of any success. This should also include the tasks of analyzing their actions, as well as developing new plans and analyzing new opportunities and prospects.

The absence of the burden of urgency allows you to perform the assigned tasks with the highest quality. But do not forget that you still need to follow the deadlines. And late completion of these tasks can move them into the first quadrant. And this is the outcome to beware of.

Quadrant 3.
Urgent and unimportant things.

In this quadrant are placed cases that interfere work effectively, because require urgent attention. We must be especially careful in such matters. Often they are confused with the tasks of the first quadrant. But not everything urgent is important. Main criterion to distinguish between urgent and important - whether this case brings you closer to the goal or not. The third quadrant includes tasks that have nothing to do with your goal.

Therefore, one must always clearly remember them and be focused on them. The simplest thing is to always have their description in front of your eyes.

Many household chores fall into the third quadrant, such as repairing shoes at the end of the season, helping a neighbor move furniture, and unimportant phone calls. Previously unplanned cases may appear here, such as some kind of urgent meeting. But repairing a computer, for example, can be both important (if you work on it or blog) and unimportant (if you only use it for games).

So, do not confuse importance and urgency. For some reason, most people automatically begin to consider urgent matters important. As a result, tension and time trouble arise in their lives, and their day is filled with turmoil.

Turmoil always moves away from the target. The founder of management, Frederick Taylor, once said that the organization of affairs can be considered good if everything is done slowly and without fuss.

As a rule, the affairs of the third quadrant only distract from what you are aiming for and what you really need. They just eat up time. Therefore, it is best to try not to scatter attention to such matters. To understand whether it is important or not is quite simple - just ask yourself “ What happens if I don't?“.

Quadrant 4.
Unimportant and non-urgent matters.

This includes everything that we do almost every day, but it has nothing to do with our work: watching TV, empty phone conversations, computer games, visiting forums, social networks etc. These are usually pleasant things, but not at all mandatory.

These cases Eisenhower called real " time wasters“, which reduces the productivity of the day.

Is it really not a pity for someone to spend 203 hours on? But this is more than a week of our lives. And this time could be used more productively.

You can simply not do such things, or you can do it only when you have free time. In the general queue of your cases, they should be at the very end. And do not forget to strictly limit the time that you allocate for such activities.

Some might say that such activities help him to relax. But it can hardly be called a good rest. Such activities are not only useless, they are harmful. Better quality rest.

So find your time wasters and set over them tight control.

By the way, many routine things from the fourth quadrant are possible and necessary. In any family, you can distribute responsibilities so as not to overstrain yourself and do everything calmly.

Two big pluses
eisenhower matrices

This matrix will indispensable assistant for those who want to improve the efficiency of their work.

Firstly, even the simple distribution of cases into quadrants in itself will clearly show what is relevant for you and what is not.

Very often we are used to working on automatism. And if something was once written on our list, then it must be done. What if this case is no longer relevant? It turns out that we do work for the sake of work itself.

With a clear conscience, all irrelevant matters can be removed. You won't even notice the consequences of their absence. Even if you started doing some of them and didn’t finish it, you can just as easily forget about it.

Secondly, the matrix teaches you to plan correctly.

When a person simply makes to-do lists for himself, it is often very difficult for him to estimate the amount of work he takes on. This is how not just lists arise, but long sheets. unfulfilled tasks are carried over from day to day, supplementing that. which reappears.

Whatever it was, but there is a purely physical limit on how much you can do in a day. But such a simple limitation is often simply not recognized. Working with the matrix adds awareness and allows you to move on to more competent planning.

Assessment test
your productivity

Many people find it difficult to assess their ability to organize the labor process. And this is natural. The necessary skills are not given to us from birth. They have to be developed by yourself. But for this you need to know what skills you lack. Then it will be easier to find techniques that will help develop the desired qualities.

An excellent test "Do you know how to organize your work" will help you with this. This is a brochure of 8 pages, in which, in addition to the test, keys are given for deciphering it, as well as an explanation of the results obtained.

This test will allow you to better understand what is preventing you from succeeding, what you need to change and what to develop in yourself for this. He

• will show how effectively you can act to solve the tasks;
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At this point, we will interrupt our discussion of the Eisenhower matrix for the time being. I suggest that you think carefully about this information, and try to use it to sort your cases into these categories. And in the second part of the article, we will already get acquainted in more detail with how to work with this matrix.

School of Yuri Okunev

Greetings to all readers and subscribers! With you Yuri Okunev.

Have you thought about how competently you plan and spend time? Do you know the feeling that you are wasting days, weeks, or even months in vain?

If yes, then the Eisenhower matrix as a prioritization tool is a must-have topic for you to study. Without it, you will be sprayed on all sorts of little things, forgetting about the really important things.

If you have not yet encountered the problem of time management, then you still need a matrix, because it will help you become even more successful.

The Matrix was developed by the 34th President of the United States, Dwight David Eisenhower.

Since the post of head of state involved an incredible number of daily tasks, the politician decided to create a universal scheme that would help him classify and sort them.

The essence of the method is to analyze current affairs, tasks and determine which of them are the most significant and urgent. The problem lies in the fact that we are far from always able to correctly determine what is really important for our life and business. Only by learning highly effective planning, we will embark on the path of success, self-realization and harmony.

Axes and quadrants

The matrix is ​​formed by two axes. Vertical means importance, and horizontal means urgency of the task. As a result, four quadrants stand out.

• Upper right. Things are urgent and important.

Tasks get here in the event that something unforeseen happened, and you have to deal with suddenly arising cases. Or because of illiterate time management, when tasks that are not solved on time move from the status of “important, but not urgent” to the status of “it is no longer possible to delay further”. The exception is health and safety, which should always be a priority.

The key principle of the matrix is ​​that everything possible should be done so that there are no entries at all in this quadrant. This will indicate that everything or almost everything is under your control. Only in this case can we talk about outstanding business qualities, the ability to correctly allocate time and set priorities.

• Top left. Things are not very urgent, but important.

This is the main sector. It should contain the most significant issues for you and / or your company. By focusing on this quadrant, you will confidently move towards your dream, live a life full of events and accomplishments.

As you delay in solving the issues in the upper left quadrant, you will soon notice that the list of tasks from it smoothly creeps into the previous upper left sector. That is, the emergency begins. To prevent this from happening, you need to be able to delegate the solution of issues to other people!

This includes meaningful daily tasks that will help avoid problems in the future. For example, these are marketing planning, rebranding, personnel and financial questions, as well as sports and health care, helping loved ones, installing an alarm in an apartment, property insurance, etc.

• Lower right. Things are urgent, but not too important.

It includes questions that distract us with their urgency from much more important activities. For example, the need to help a relative plant potatoes, asking a friend to pick him up from the airport, repairing household appliances, Birthday of far from the closest and most devoted comrade, etc.

Spread over all this, you begin to pay less attention and time to issues from the previous quadrants. As a result, your interests, needs and aspirations suffer. Moreover, there is a high probability that you will begin to rearrange things from this sector to the “urgent and important” sector. That is why it is necessary to approach the prioritization with all scrupulousness.

• Lower right. Things are not urgent and unimportant.

AT Everyday life There are a lot of such things for any person. Like a swamp, they suck you in completely.

This category includes various household chores, activities that are pleasant for the soul, small organizational issues that you can do without harming yourself / the company when you are really free. Calling a friend, chatting in social networks, searching for tours for the next vacation, going to a beauty salon, replacing a couple of pictures on the site - you spend your attention, effort, time, etc. on all this.

All tasks in this quadrant should be completed only after issues from all other sectors have been resolved.

It is noteworthy that the matrix was actively used by the well-known American specialist on High Performance Planning by Stephen Covey. Taking the ex-president's scheme as a basis, he supplemented it with his own reflections, explanations and advice. In particular, he called the first sector the crisis one, the second - the square of quality, the third - the threshold of the crisis, and the fourth - degradation.

On the one hand, the priority matrix is ​​extremely logical, understandable and simple. But as soon as you start classifying tasks, problems will immediately arise. How do you know what is important and what is critical? What needs to be done right now, and what can wait? The following method will help with this.

"Cartesian coordinates"

It is called so because it is based on the same system of intersecting axes, which was once created by the famous mathematician Rene Descartes. The Eisenhower matrix and Cartesian squares have the same appearance, however the content is different. Each quadrant is assigned a question.

• Top left sector. What will I gain if I don't?
• Upper right sector. What will I gain if I do this?
• Lower left sector. What will I lose if I don't do this?
• Lower right sector. What will I lose if I do this?

How to use the Eisenhower Matrix

I think there is no need to discuss the need to use methods to prioritize business and household tasks. “Will it be useful somewhere else?” - you ask. The answer is yes, it will be useful wherever you need to streamline something. For example:

• Personal life.

Finding a doctor for your brother is urgent and important. Making peace with your spouse is not urgent, but important. Buying a gift for a second cousin's name day is urgent, but not important. Sending a link to a funny video to a friend on social networks is not at all urgent and unimportant.

• Cleaning closets, pantries at home.

In the first quadrant there may be things that you really need and may need literally tomorrow. In the second - those that are very necessary, but not right now. In the third - those that will be needed in the near future, but then they can be removed away. In the fourth - what can be postponed until the next season / given to people in need.

• Health care.

Do you want to overcome a harmful chronic sore, recover after surgery? Or, perhaps, you just need to improve your overall well-being and put your body in order? To do this, you need to pay attention to a large number of things - nutrition, training, rest, preventive and medicines, physiotherapy, etc. Moreover, not all methods can and should be combined.

Divide tasks into quadrants to create a competent recovery strategy and outline an accurate plan of action.

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Suppose you thoughtfully approached the formulation of the goal, overcame internal resistance in the form of fear and procrastination, and found excellent motivation to achieve results. You are active and full of energy! However, after some time, you notice with surprise that, having honestly and stubbornly worked out the planned 8-12 hours, you cannot determine exactly

• what of the planned has already been done;
• what is the intermediate result obtained;
• How close are you to achieving the goal you set for yourself?

The picture is quite depressing: your day is full of worries, you are always busy with something, and the result does not get closer. Instead of being satisfied that you managed to pass a few more steps on the way to the goal, you only feel tired and disappointed.

"The Goal Problem"

In time management, this phenomenon is called “goal setting problems”. Faced with it, you begin to feel like a famous hero of ancient Greek myth - Sisyphus, who is doomed to roll a huge boulder to the top of the mountain every day, breaking down at the moment when the goal is achieved. Such an unbearable boulder in your case is a heap of daily affairs, the volume of which does not decrease, no matter how hard you try.

Prioritize

Although the problem you are facing is really serious and large-scale, it is quite possible to solve it. But where to start? First, before you take action, you need to figure out exactly what you want to achieve at this stage and rank the tasks depending on their priority.

Don't start working on a task before you know exactly where you want to go and how far you're getting from it.

Of course, there is a whole category of things that can be done randomly, according to the “discovered and done” principle. In its own way, this is even useful: such activity creates a certain mood and helps to get involved in the main work without any problems. Such cases include, for example, household “turnover”: wash the dishes, wipe the dust, sweep the floor, etc. The list of such daily routine tasks is small, moreover, the advantage of their implementation is that you almost instantly see the result of your efforts and after completion, you experience not only a sense of satisfaction from the work done, but also quite tangible physical comfort.

However, when it comes to those tasks that need to be solved in the course of working on a large-scale project, the to-do list can become almost “dimensionless”. A chaotic strategy will not work here - after all, you are limited in time to complete the entire project. This means that there is a great risk, solving a lot of secondary issues, simply not having time to do something really important to achieve the ultimate goal. Therefore, before grabbing everything at once, take a few minutes to think.

Rank current tasks

Thinking about your actions is a good idea, but you want to do it not only efficiently, but also quickly. For this purpose, a well-known method that is actively used in time management is suitable. It is known as the Eisenhower matrix. AT different sources several various ways using this method. It seems to us the simplest and most rational one, which will be discussed below. It proved to be an excellent tool for practical application so we are happy to share it with you.

The Matrix bears the name of the 34th President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower, a former army general. He is credited with the invention this method, but, most likely, Eisenhower's merit lies in the fact that at one time he expressed the idea: "Not all urgent matters are important, and not all important matters are urgent." The quote gained popularity and, of course, formed the basis of the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe matrix.

With the help of the Eisenhower matrix, you can quickly sort even a fairly long to-do list. To do this, write down the current tasks (best using the GTD methodology), and then evaluate each of them according to just two criteria:

• Does it matter? (Not really)
• Is it urgent? (Not really)

As a result, all your list items, depending on their degree of importance / urgency, can be placed in one of the 4 quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix, which looks like this:

It should be noted that the matrix various systems time management has different names, as well as the interpretation of the quadrants may vary slightly from different authors. So, Stephen Covey, author of the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, calls it the Urgency\Importance matrix. He gives detailed recommendations on its use in his work. In other sources, this method is called a visual version of the " 4D Rules", Which we will talk about a little later.

How to work with quadrants

The Eisenhower Matrix has not only many options for names, but also many interpretations of how to deal with the tasks placed in each of the quadrants. We propose to dwell on two interpretations, the first of which seems to be more convenient for everyday use.

Method Do-Plan-Delegate-Eliminate

Actually, the name of this method already carries information about how to deal with the tasks that you have placed in each of the 4 quadrants. Let's dwell on this in a little more detail.

Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important

These are cases that require immediate action, otherwise the irreparable will happen: a fire, a bug that can block the release, or something like that. The ideal option is when this quadrant is left empty. In extreme cases, you can put tasks from quadrant No. 2 into it, if unforeseen circumstances suddenly demanded their urgent solution.

Quadrant 2: Important but not urgent

This is the quadrant for the most productive tasks. They do not need to be solved this very second, so each can be reasonably planned and efficiently implemented. Working on the implementation of tasks from the second quadrant, you will end up with the same productivity, the absence of which led you to despair.

To further optimize the work within this quadrant, you can rank the tasks placed in it according to the same principle of importance / urgency. So you can first pay attention to more urgent and important (not “burning”!) tasks, and then calmly move on to solving less urgent and important (but still significant for achieving the goal) issues.

Quadrant 3: Not important but urgent

Things in this quadrant are the very distractions that disrupt the smooth flow of the workflow and interfere with the achievement of the ultimate goal. These are long telephone conversations, fruitless discussions that do not have an end goal, the need to be distracted in order to help one of your colleagues, etc. It is recommended that such cases be delegated, if possible, to someone who can handle them for you. The main idea is not to do them yourself. You can delegate them, or refuse to implement them at all.

Quadrant 4: Not important and not urgent

You can simply forget about the cases that ended up in this quadrant. As a rule, these are some of your momentary desires that have nothing to do with your goals. If such a quadrant is empty, it is perfect option. But even if there are some tasks in it that you still would like to complete, postpone the solution of this issue for an indefinitely long period and return to them after the main goal is achieved, but for now it’s just not worth wasting energy on them and time.

The 4D Rule

In fairness, it must be said that the "4D" rule in various interpretations does not necessarily describe the quadrants of the matrix we are talking about. But one of them is quite consistent with their descriptions above, and it can be used when working with quadrants:

Do, Delegate, Defer, or Dump (Do (urgently), Charge (to others), Postpone (for a while), Throw).
Do, Decide, Delegate, Delete (Do (now), Decide (in what order to do), Charge, Delete).

The main advantage of the described method is that it allows you to quickly rank any number of tasks. In addition, the matrix

• Helps to visually represent the volume of planned cases and their degree of importance / urgency. Thus, you get the opportunity to use your time efficiently.
• With its help, you can easily divide tasks into groups based on just 2 simple criteria. If not for this condition, then it would be much more difficult to distribute tasks by quadrants.

Check the effectiveness of the matrix in practice

You can use the Eisenhower matrix not only to determine which tasks bring you closer to the intended result, and which ones create obstacles on the way to the goal. You can also use this method to evaluate how effective you are overall. So, if all your tasks are placed in the second quadrant, we can say that you have reached the maximum efficiency.

In addition, the division of tasks into quadrants allows you to visually determine exactly where most of your time and energy goes, as well as tell you how to improve personal performance. For example, seriously consider delegating most tasks to other team members or finally stop wasting time and effort on things that found a place in quadrant number 4.

You can optimize the application of the Eisenhower matrix method using applications that already exist in various options: mobile, web and desktop versions. And in order not to make mistakes in setting goals and determine rational ways to achieve them, use the service Smart Progress. With his help different people over 35,000 goals have already been implemented. Have you defined your goal?