The Eisenhower Matrix: A simple tool for allocating tasks. Eisenhower Matrix

11.10.2019

34 US President Dwight David Eisenhower was a very busy man. In order to get more done in a day, he created his own effective time management tool, which today is called the Eisenhower Matrix or Priority Matrix. What is the essence of the method?

What is the Eisenhower Matrix?

The idea of the Eisenhower matrix is to learn to quickly distinguish between important matters from minor ones and those that do not require attention at all. Eisenhower proposed to divide all current and planned cases into 4 categories according to the principle of urgency and importance. For clarity, he drew a square and divided it into 4 fields. Each of the fields contained a to-do list:

1 field: Important and urgent matters;
2 field: Important, but not very urgent matters;
3rd field: Not important, but urgent matters;
4th field: Not important and not urgent matters.

How to work with the Eisenhower square?

Consider the Eisenhower square in more detail:

Important and urgent matters. What would you put in this category? How many urgent and important things could be written in this square? The trick is that planning according to Eisenhower can only be called effective when the very first square is always clean, without a single entry. If you have a list of tasks that you can attribute to this field of the matrix, it means that something interferes with your productive work: laziness, lack of self-discipline, inability to set priorities correctly, etc. All this leads to rush jobs, which has a bad effect on the mental and physical state of a person.
Important but not very urgent matters. Eisenhower, creating his time management system, was sure that this particular category was the most important. To place a task here in a timely manner and take up its execution means the opportunity to devote as much time as necessary to solving the problem. So, for example, a timely visit to the doctor will prevent the disease, and writing a student thesis a little ahead of schedule leave room for error correction.
Not very important, but urgent matters. This field of the Esenhower Matrix is intended to place cases here that interfere effective work and therefore require immediate elimination. For example, fixing a computer breakdown, helping your mother-in-law transport furniture to the country house, etc.
Not urgent, not important. In the matrix of priorities there is also a place for the things that we do daily in order to distract ourselves from work.
These are long phone calls, watching TV shows, friend tapes, writing letters, etc. That is, all those things that are pleasant, but not mandatory. Eisenhower, speaking of priorities, called such activities "time wasters" that negatively affect work productivity.

It will be more convenient to work with the Eisenhower square if:

Arrange the tasks in each field in order of importance, numbering them in Latin letters or numbers. It is worth taking on more urgent and important matters first;
Focus mainly on the things from square 2. If the things from the list of not very urgent, but important, fall into the square of important and urgent things, it's okay. The main thing is that such a movement does not become a trend;
Set long-term goals for yourself and outline the tasks to achieve them step by step. Distribute tasks by squares;
Do not be distracted from the current task by smoking breaks, viewing mail and other things.

Thus, the matrix created by President Eisenhower is an effective time management tool that has been successfully used in practice for more than half a century.

The Eisenhower Matrix as a Prioritization Tool

There is an opinion that this method was used by General Dwight Eisenhower.

He compiled a case classification matrix that he used to organize his time more efficiently, and it helped him succeed in becoming President of the United States.

All cases, according to the Eisenhower matrix, can be divided into four categories according to their importance and urgency.

Let's take a closer look at each of these categories.

A. Important and urgent. Cases in this category must be done immediately. The most appropriate word for them is "hands down".

Tomorrow is the exam, but the tickets have not yet been learned, and one has to hurriedly finish learning what has been put off for a long time for later.

"We must live in such a way that important things do not turn into urgent ones."

B. Important and non-urgent. Cases of this category are the most “offended”, we pay the least attention to them, because they are not urgent! “Time endures,” we think about such matters and put them on the back burner. “The exam is so far away, the whole semester is ahead, you can not think about it yet

about preparation ... Well, there is still a month before the exam, I will have time to learn everything ... Another whole week ahead, there is time ... "And gradually, due to our neglect of the affairs of the category V they turn into category cases A. And now it’s the last night before the exam, and we are frantically trying to remember at least something, and our head is spinning: “Oh, I should have started preparing earlier!” To avoid a similar scenario of events in your life, to the cases of the category V should be approached as an investment that needs to be made today in order to make a profit tomorrow.

WITH. unimportant and urgent . Tricky things that like to "pretend to be important." They cleverly disguise themselves as deeds of the category A, and they often manage to trick us: it is human nature to confuse importance and urgency, which is what category C tasks take advantage of. It is these tasks that create an atmosphere of fuss, bustle and eternal haste, but for some reason this state of affairs is often considered an indicator of active work. But even at the beginning of the 20th century. F. Taylor, a classic of the scientific organization of labor, noted that a well-organized enterprise is one where no one runs anywhere, does not fuss, and all things are done slowly, but on time and with high quality. Look carefully at your personal corporation "I". How are things with you?

D. Unimportant and non-urgent("trash can"). These types of cases include our time wasters. They are often enjoyable and interesting, which is why we prefer to spend on them. best watch, and then we can not remember where so much time has gone? It is necessary to “finance” such cases according to the residual principle, otherwise they will “eat up” the entire budget of our time. If we follow this principle, they may well turn from absorbers into our helpers.

Make it a rule: “I will write an essay on economics, do a task on time management, and if there is free time, I will play for an hour

into a computer game”, and strictly follow it. Then the important work will be done, and there will be time for entertainment.

Benefits of the Eisenhower Matrix:

- easy to use;

- allows you to reduce the number of unimportant cases;

- helps to quickly identify priority tasks and cases.

Stephen Covey Time Management Matrix

Stephen Covey was one of the few people on the planet who knew how to properly manage every minute of time.

Covey worked on the author's time management system over several years, investing in it all practical experience, which he has accumulated over hundreds, and maybe thousands, of consultations from businessmen and just business people who dream of squeezing everything out of time. Until the very last drop.

Stephen has written several books on productivity. The most famous The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It describes the habits that you need to adhere to in order to become more productive.

Briefly about each of the habits:

Be proactive. Change the world around you to create a comfortable environment for achieving goals, self-realization and creation. Ignore factors that are beyond your control, such as politics
Get started with your end goal in mind. All your actions should be directed towards achieving this goal.
Make up time management matrix and give priority to important and at the same time non-urgent tasks
Act on strategy win-win(won-won).

In any problem, there are always 2 sides (participants). Think about how to solve it simultaneously and in the most beneficial way for everyone
First seek to understand the person, to be understood is a matter of second importance. Develop empathic listening - accepting emotions, feelings, and not just words from a person. And don't forget to give your
Strive to catch the synergistic effect. Synergy means that the whole is always greater than its constituent parts. The effect appears when working on difficult tasks, as well as when working in a team
Sharpen your saw. Continually improve your planning, communication and empathy skills

The most interesting and unusual item of the above is the third item: "The Time Matrix".

What is a time management matrix and how to work with it

A matrix is a template by which one can determine task order.

Physically matrix is a square divided into 4 smaller squares. measured horizontally urgency, and vertically importance.

Any new business must be correlated with one of the squares and, depending on the chosen square, a specific action must be taken, for example, immediately take on the implementation or postpone it for later.

Case options

Stephen Covey's time management matrix suggests 4 options for the development of actions.

If the case urgent and important, it needs to be done right now. The proportion of such cases can reach up to 40-50%. Covey argues that urgent and important tasks contribute little to achieving your main goals. Availability a large number such cases, first of all, speaks of an emergency, therefore, of the wrong organization of working time and low personal productivity.

If the case urgent and important, then for its implementation you need to allocate the maximum amount of time, attention and resources. It is these things that lead you to your goals, which means that the benefits from the implementation are maximum.

If the case urgent and unimportant, you need to delegate (instruct) it. Try to find a performer for whom this task is important. This way you save your own time.

If the case unimportant and unimportant- don't do it. Sometimes it is psychologically difficult to refuse to perform, because the idea has already strengthened in the mind that the task must be completed. If you can’t show willpower and overcome yourself, put the task on a separate “To Do Someday” list.

How to manage a lot of cases using the matrix

Most likely, you are a very busy person and the number of your cases is measured in dozens.

Trying to keep them in your head or write them down on paper is counterproductive.

We present you LeaderTask - a specialized program for analyzing cases. LeaderTask supports Stephen Covey's time management methodology.

Create 4 folders (projects) in the program to work on the time matrix:

Start filling them with tasks:

Try LeaderTask to work on the Covey time management matrix.

Download LeaderTask

The Eisenhower matrix (bearing the name of the 34th President of the United States, who invented it) is one of the time management methods for prioritizing the tasks of the day. The matrix looks like four squares, which are obtained by crossing the axes "Important - Not Important" horizontally and "Urgent - Not Urgent" vertically.

How to use this matrix? Just sort your tasks (for example, the tasks of the day) there according to their importance and urgency.

Important and urgent matters are those that are very important and cannot be delayed. Without them, everything will collapse, and it will be too late to make them tomorrow. These things need to be done today, first of all - and without fail. Examples of important and urgent tasks: completing a project task that is about to be due; an unscheduled trip to the dentist, traumatologist or other specialist; urgent phone call to a client or counterparty. In theory, the square of important and urgent matters should be empty, but in practice, sometimes every person has important and urgent matters, some of them are generated by laziness, some by a lack of professionalism, and some by force majeure.

Things that are important but not urgent are important things that will soon become urgent. If you do not plan to wait for this and arrange an unnecessary race for yourself, then pay close attention to these matters. Examples of such cases: current (planned) work on your projects; planning new projects; evaluation of the results obtained by projects.

Things are not important, but urgent. As a rule, things that do not bring you closer to the goal, whatever it may be, fall into this square, these are things that need to be done, but only in order to do them. Happy birthday (it turns out that Vasya was born today), the unexpected arrival of guests and other unplanned, imposed meetings that cannot be refused. If you can delegate something from this, instruct someone, do it by all means.

Not important and not urgent things - this is the most disgusting category of cases. They are not important, they are not urgent, but they are what you want to do. These are your time wasters - reading glossy magazines, computer games, TV viewing and Internet surfing.

Important: many people start doing garbage when they are just tired. When you want, you want. So, this is the wrong decision. That's right - plan a quality vacation (this category is Important, but not urgent) and have a quality rest, and not engage in garbage.

In summary, as a tool, the Eisenhower matrix works and, moreover, organizes well if you follow it. You can be proud of yourself if the "Important and Urgent" square is often empty for you: and this is quite real if you more often deal with the affairs of the "Important, but not Urgent" square. This is how professionals work!

It will be useful for you to determine how effectively you spend your time, whether you know how to set priorities and delegate responsibilities.

Write out a plan for one day from your weekly / diary. What did you do, what tasks
decided who you met with, who prevented you from working, how much time did it take? Divide what you have done into the four quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix, indicating the time spent.

Calculate how the time was distributed over the four quadrants?

Processing of results.

Quadrant I - those cases that require immediate resolution. They are both urgent and important, and so
and shout about themselves: “Do it! Make up your mind! Answer the letter! Meeting! Prepare a report!

What did you receive?
If the I quadrant has grown disproportionately, this means that dates and dates control you, not you your life. Maybe you just dragged everything to the last limit? After all, it is very possible that the tasks of quadrant II, which are also important, but not urgent, have become urgent because you did not have time to complete them on time? You lack a strategic approach to the problem. The manager, and just a person who finds himself in such a situation, is under the daily sword of Damocles of stress caused by an enduring crisis situation. You don't have the time or energy to think long-term plans, prepare proposals for a new product, your friends, with whom you value relationships so much, have forgotten how you look. You catch up with the departing train, and at one point you will find yourself on an empty platform with a broken heart.

Why?
You set priorities incorrectly, do not know how to delegate responsibilities, do not trust
to your employees, pull all the burdens on yourself. In this state of affairs, it is difficult for you to
count for an increase, because You do not have an opinion, a vision for the future of the company, you are completely busy
important issues today.

What to do?
Learn to delegate responsibilities, educate yourself a deputy, an understudy, if you want, who will replace you if necessary. Prepare a list of duties that your employees can perform instead of you. Review the priority list. Move the center of gravity of your activity to quadrant II.

Golden rule: A crisis is easier to prevent than to resolve.

Quadrant II. Important, but not urgent - great philosophy! If you managed to allocate your time in such a way that quadrant II turned out to be the most filled with cases, you can be sincerely congratulated!

What did you receive?
You perfectly know how to “separate the wheat from the chaff”, concentrate on the main thing, have your own view on everything, because you have enough time to calmly think about current and future projects. You have good business relations with your colleagues, you have someone to turn to with a question and for advice, if necessary.

Why?
Your prioritization system is well suited to your particular activity.
You know how to delegate responsibilities and do not waste time solving other people's problems.

Quadrant III. No matter, but urgent? Insignificant trifles, short-term goals, momentary interests and problems.

What did you receive?
Don't you think that you plug up all the holes? Or did you arrange it yourself? Why are you doing the most unimportant part of the job? Who does everything else for you?

If, in addition, the second place in terms of time spent in your matrix is occupied by quadrant IV, then you are the first candidate for dismissal.

Why?
For some reason, you out of all your official duties selected only the unimportant ones. Moreover, you yourself have determined what is the main thing for you, and what is vanity of vanities. If you yourself admit that you waste time on unimportant tasks, then why do you do this? You have neither clear goals nor plans, both for the near future and for long term. It looks like sabotage, and you yourself will suffer from it first of all.

What to do?
If you are going to look for another job, think first, what recommendation from your current management can you count on with such labor enthusiasm? It's probably better to put things in order at your present place of work, so that your boss will let you go with tears in his eyes and a promise to accept you as soon as you want to come back. To do this, you need to “simply” shift the center of gravity of your affairs to quadrant II, become an indispensable and really necessary employee. To do this, you need to immediately review the list of priorities, schedules for completing tasks, and master all the time-saving techniques. You have nowhere to retreat, you are in a crisis that can end badly!

Quadrant IV. Unimportant and non-urgent matters. What are you paid for? You don't mind spending
your life to do worthless deeds? Comments are superfluous.

"Urgent things are usually not the most important,
and the important ones are not the most urgent.”
D. Eisenhower

A preliminary analysis of your Eisenhower Matrix has shown that people who are striving and achieving success avoid doing things from quadrants III and IV.

If most of your cases are in quadrants I and III, it is useful for you to read the note: Quadrants I and III

Every day we have to make hundreds of decisions, and the higher the position, the more decisions we have to make. How do you separate the important from the unimportant? One simple yet productive way is the Eisenhower Square, also known as the Eisenhower Matrix. This system, with , works great for both daily and long-term planning. Below you will learn about the author of this technique (he was an outstanding person), as well as about the features of using the Eisenhower Square technique itself.

Dwight Eisenhower has lived one of the most productive lives you can imagine.

Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, serving two terms from 1953 to 1961. During his tenure, he initiated programs that led directly to the development of the Interstate Highway System in the United States, Internet Launch (OACRA), outer space(TCHA8A), and peaceful use alternative sources Energy (Atomic Energy Law).

Before becoming president, Eisenhower was a five-star general (the highest rank), served as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II, and was responsible for planning and executing the invasion of North Africa, France, and Germany.

In addition, he served as president of Columbia University, became the first Supreme Commander of NATO, and in doing so somehow found time to pursue his hobbies: golfing and oil painting.

Eisenhower had an incredible ability to maintain his performance not only for weeks or months, but for many decades. And for this reason, his methods of time management, task management and productivity have been studied by many people.

His most famous performance strategy is known as the Eisenhower Square. This is a simple decision making tool that you can start using right away. Let's talk about how to be more productive and how the Eisenhower strategy works.

The Eisenhower Square: How to Be More Productive

Eisenhower's strategy for taking action and organizing tasks is very simple. It uses a decision matrix (in the picture below), in which you will distribute your actions based on four possibilities:

Urgent and important (tasks that should be done immediately).

Important but not urgent (tasks that can be scheduled to be done later).

Urgent but not important (tasks that can be delegated to someone else).

Not urgent and not important (tasks that can be eliminated).

The great thing about this matrix is that it can be used both for making long-term plans for productivity ("How should I spend my time every week?") and for small daily tasks ("What should I do today?") .

Note: I created the Eisenhower Square template as a spreadsheet. You can download this template for your personal use at the bottom of the article. (By the way, I translated this template into Russian, and if you want to get it - .

The difference between urgent and important

Important is rarely urgent, and urgent is rarely important.

— Dwight Eisenhower

Urgent tasks are those tasks that you need to quickly respond to: letters, phone calls, texts, news. Meanwhile, in the words of Brett McKay: “Important tasks are tasks that contribute to our long-term mission, values and goals.”

Separating these urgent and important things is easy enough to do once, but doing it all the time can be extremely difficult. The reason I like the Eisenhower Square method is that it provides a clear framework for making decisions on an ongoing basis. And like everything in life, consistency is the tricky part.

Here are some other observations I made using this method:

Liquidation before optimization

A few years ago, I was reading about programming and came across an interesting quote:

"There is no faster code than no code"

— Kevlin Henney

In other words, the fastest way to get something done - to have the computer read lines of code or cross a completed task off your to-do list - is to eliminate that task altogether. no more fast way do something than not do it at all. Of course, this is not a reason to be lazy, but a suggestion to force yourself to do it. difficult decisions and delete any task that does not lead you to your mission, values, or goals.

Too often, we use performance, time management, and optimization techniques as an excuse to avoid the really important question: “Should I actually be doing this?”. It's much easier to stay busy and tell yourself you just need to be a little more efficient or "work a little later tonight" than to eliminate a task that you're just comfortable doing. But in fact it is not the most effective method use of your time. (Personally, I like the test phrase "Are you busy or are you productive?").

As Tim Ferriss says, “Stay busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.”

I find the Eisenhower method particularly useful because it makes me question whether the action is really necessary, which ends up moving the task to the Delete quadrant rather than mindlessly repeating them. And frankly, if you just destroy all the things that you spend your time on every day, then you probably won't need any advice on how to be more productive at the jobs that really matter.

Will it help me reach my goal?

One final note: it can be very difficult for you to eliminate redundant actions if you are not sure which direction you are working in. In my experience, there are two questions that can help clarify the whole process of the Eisenhower method.

These two questions:

What am I working for? What am I working on? In what direction am I working?
What are the core values I strive for in my life?

These are the questions I asked myself in my Annual Review and in my Progress Report. The answers to these questions helped me clarify the categories for certain tasks in my life. After that, deciding which tasks to do and which tasks to delete becomes much easier, because you will understand what is important to you.

The Eisenhower method is not ideal strategy, but for myself I realized that this useful tool making decisions to improve productivity and eliminating tasks that take up mental energy, time, and rarely lead me to my goal. I hope you find this method useful.

Original article: http://jamesclear.com/eisenhower-box

P.S.: A little bonus: the Eisenhower Square template: I have russified the Eisenhower Square template into a spreadsheet that you can download and use whenever you want to improve your productivity and eliminate wasted time. You can get it by contacting me and I will send you a copy of the table right away.

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Good afternoon, blog readers Your decision!

In this article I want to talk about the problem of an overloaded to-do list, which almost every modern person encounters. How is it shown? The fact that we plan to complete all sorts of different tasks during the day or during the week, and at the end of this period we realize that we did not have time to do anything.

Why is it so? Why are we overwhelmed and do not have time to do what we planned?

Most often this is due to the fact that our planning is unrealistic. We overload our list of tasks, we need to cross something out of it, but the question arises, “How can we cross something out of it if we enter only necessary things into it?”

Special prioritization techniques can help us determine what needs to be done first, what we can delay, and what not to do at all.

One of the simplest and effective methods prioritization is the Eisenhower matrix. The idea belongs to US President Dwight Eisenhower. She became famous after Stephen Covey wrote about her in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Keeping busy is a form of laziness, lazy thinking, and indiscriminate action.
Tim Ferris

The Eisenhower matrix is based on, according to which 20% of our efforts give 80% of the result. Eisenhower improved on this principle.

The Eisenhower matrix is a square divided by two intersecting axes into 4 sectors or quadrants.
The vertical axis is “importance”, the horizontal axis is “urgency”.
Thus, we get 4 sectors:
sector A - "urgent and important"
sector B - "not urgent, but important"
sector C - "urgent, but not important"
sector D - "not urgent, not important"

Sector A: important, urgent

Combines things that need to be done first. They do not tolerate delay, to fulfill tomorrow - it will be too late. The regular appearance of such things on our list of tasks is usually the result of poor planning, disorganization, procrastination, etc. The ideal planning situation is an empty A quadrant.

Examples of Quadrant A cases:

loan payment
an unscheduled visit to the doctor when something already hurts a lot
call a plumber to repair a leaking pipe
laptop repair

Sector B: important, not urgent

This sector brings together cases that directly affect your personal effectiveness. The main difference between these cases and those in the A quadrant is the lack of urgency. This allows you to approach the solution of such problems more deliberately, which allows you to achieve greater results and efficiency. Quadrant B tasks should basically make up our to-do list for the day. You also need to remember that the affairs of sector B, if they are not given timely attention and time, can go to sector A.

Examples of quadrant B cases:

training, advanced training, courses and seminars, trainings
scheduled report
sports
quality rest
scheduled visit to the doctor (medical examination, preventive examinations)

Sector C: not important, urgent

Things that do not bring you closer to the goal, but you need to do them. The main mistake when working with the matrix is not to confuse the affairs of sector A and C, otherwise a situation will arise that you are spinning like a squirrel in a wheel, but the completed tasks do not bring you closer to the intended goal, and important tasks remain unresolved.

Examples of sector C cases:

email check
current calls
meetings
household chores (house cleaning)
meetings imposed by someone

Sector D: not important, not urgent

The sector brings together cases that waste our time, do not bring us any benefit at all. In other words, time wasted. But these tasks are very attractive for us, they are easy to perform, they allow us to have a good time and relax. Therefore, it is very difficult to resist them, but it is necessary to do it.

sit on social media
watching TV
chatting with colleagues

How can a matrix be useful in practice? There are two possible ways to use the Eisenhower matrix:

for planning
Often we do everything urgent, but unimportant things, and important and non-urgent things are postponed further and further. If we start planning our time and tasks according to the Eisenhower matrix, we can spend more time on important things that will bring us closer to the goal, and eliminate tasks that take time, effort, energy and rarely lead to the goal. How to use the matrix for planning, read in this article below.
to evaluate your effectiveness
The Eisenhower matrix clearly shows what tasks you perform. Such an analysis can be carried out at the end of the week or month. Regularly reviewing the tasks that you have been busy with during a certain period will increase your personal effectiveness.

What does it look like?

Write down the tasks that you completed during the day on a sheet of paper.
Divide the work done into four sectors with an indication of the time spent.
Calculate how the time and the number of tasks were distributed by sectors.
Result interpretation:
sector A
If sector A has grown, then you are not in control of your life. you are not doing strategic planning You do not know how to distribute the workload among employees and delegate responsibilities.
sector B
If sector B is most filled with business, then you devote enough time to achieving your goals, you know how to concentrate on the main thing.
sector C
An increase in the affairs of sector C shows your lack of goals and plans. you waste your time on unimportant tasks.
sector D
The question arises, “What are you paid for?”, and in personal plan you are wasting your time.

The main difficulty in applying the Eisenhower matrix is the difficulty in determining the importance of a task. We often think that all tasks are important. how to determine the true importance of the task. How to highlight the really important tasks from all the tasks?

This is where the “Franklin method” comes in handy: the important is what is in line with the main goals of my life.

The main idea is that before prioritizing, you need to clearly define your goals for a certain period.
After that, we will supplement the Eisenhower matrix by placing our goals in its center. What is happening now? Now the assessment of the importance of all tasks for the day will be carried out relative to the goal.

The importance of the task is distinguished by the answer to 3 questions:

What happens if I don't do it today?
Can someone do it for me?
Is this task important to achieve the goal?

For example, your goal is to “pay off all loans and debts within a year.” We evaluate the importance of each task of the matrix precisely from the position of whether it will help to achieve the goal.

Practical implementation. Algorithm for applying the matrix for daily planning

Define goals. See if your goals match. From the list of your goals, select 1-3 goals that are more priority for this period. It is these goals that will be a beacon for you, which you need to focus on when classifying tasks by sectors.
Compose (day, week, month). Time management professionals advise you to plan your vacation as well.
Break it down.
Priority assessment. Distribute tasks by sectors, determining the importance of the task based on the goals set. Draw a sheet into 4 quadrants and fill in the matrix with tasks. If you are not inspired by the thought of drawing quadrants every day, you can mark the priorities with the letters: A, B, C and D. We put marks on your list opposite each task.
Three traffic light colors can be used for priorities: red (A quadrant), green (B quadrant), and yellow (C quadrant).
Fulfillment of assigned tasks:

important and urgent matters are done first. This is how the day should start.
after that, we move on to matters important, but not urgent. Most of our time and attention should be focused on the affairs of this sector.
only then to the rest of the cases.

Before you begin any task, first ask yourself the question “I have to do this?, “Can someone else do this?”.
The tasks of the C quadrant, as a rule, of a routine nature, which do not move you towards your goal, are recommended to be delegated or not done at all.

6. Monitoring the implementation of the plan
At this stage, analyze the implementation of the planned plan. Calculate in each quadrant of the matrix how many tasks are completed per day and how much time is spent on their execution. Rate your performance.

The more time you devote to the tasks of the B quadrant, the more effective you become and the faster you achieve your goals.

Move unfinished tasks to the list for the next day. If you've put off a task more than three times, consider whether it should be done at all. Chances are you'll be fine without it! Cross off such tasks from the list or do it immediately.

As you can see, the Eisenhower matrix is a simple working tool that facilitates planning and helps to monitor and analyze your activities. Leave your e-mail in the form at the end of the article and download the template daily planning by the Eisenhower matrix. The template is created in two formats: in an Excel spreadsheet and as a note template for Evernote.

To add a note with a template to your account Evernote, you need to right-click on a note in your Evernote account and select "Copy to Notebook" from the drop-down menu. Then select your notebook and click "Copy". Now you can make any changes to the template.
If you'll be using the matrix a lot, make the note template a shortcut! This will speed up note search and save you time!
Be sure to incorporate priorities into your case management system!

Once you learn how to correctly distribute tasks within the Eisenhower matrix, you will have a considerable amount of extra time and, most importantly, you will quickly reach your goal.

Fill your every day with meaning and it will be YOUR DECISION!

The Eisenhower Matrix as a prioritization tool is one of the main methods for successful planning and execution of cases. In this article, we will look at this technique in more detail, since it is it that is the most popular time management method that has been used for a long time in all areas of life.

"Life has value if it is a constant struggle for a worthy cause"

D. D. Eisenhower

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Time management tried to understand the world-famous 34th President of America, David Eisenhower. It was the study of this area that made him popular all over the world. He studied in detail the methods of effective planning, the phased implementation of the plan. This is how the Eisenhower matrix appeared as a tool for setting priorities. We will consider his technique in more detail later in our article.

Time management- the ability of a person to correctly allocate his time for the implementation of planned tasks. This phenomenon has been studied for many years by various psychologists, everyone tried to understand how it works. this method proper planning. Renowned psychologist David Allen has written a book on the basics and practice of effective planning.

In our time, vanity and diversity modern life more and more forces to turn to methods of successful structuring of the planned tasks, their correct and quick implementation. Correct prioritization allows you to quickly and efficiently do work of any complexity, comprehend your mistakes, learn new skills and abilities in the process of achieving the goal.

Eisenhower's personality in the study of time management

David Eisenhower was a famous US President. He became famous throughout the world for his intelligence and organizational skills. During his life, he built a brilliant military career, which left no small mark on the history of America. He successfully completed all the tasks, always achieved his goals, which earned him respect, became an example for many public figures.

Eisenhower believed that to live life correctly means to do a worthy business that gives pleasure to its subject and benefit to others. As president, he asked more and more questions about how to do everything in time, do it right and with success in the end. These thoughts led him to create a method of arranging important cases, which is intensively used in our time.

Thanks to his resourcefulness, confidence and striving for perfection, Eisenhower achieved success in everything, he completed everything he planned on time, without much difficulty. Many figures of his time were only surprised at his self-organization, tried to follow his methods of government, since the personality of such a president really deserves respect and may well be an example to follow. The Eisenhower Matrix as a prioritization tool is one of the main ways to organize your work plan in your daily life.

Features of the Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix as a prioritization tool is a popular time management technique that allows you to correctly and on time carry out the planned tasks, determine significant goals for yourself for a specific period of time. The basis of the Eisenhower table are four so-called quadrants of cases. The basis for its creation were significant and urgent tasks that have accumulated over a short period of time due to various factors.

These quadrants are also called Eisenhower windows because they are shown in a square table. The Eisenhower table looks like this.

A quadrant Important urgent matters

V quadrant Important non-urgent

WITH quadrant unimportant urgent

D quadrant unimportant non-urgent

Anyone who wants to learn how to properly allocate their time can make such a table for themselves. The Eisenhower matrix as a prioritization tool will help you deal with the accumulated tasks in a very short period of time.

Having understood the basic structure of the prioritization method, we can analyze each window of the Eisenhower matrix in detail. The Eisenhower matrix as a prioritization tool is useful for determining the significance of your plans at a particular point in time.

Quadrant A

It includes important urgent tasks which cannot be postponed until later, as this can lead to negative consequences. For successful planning, you need to start precisely with sector A. An example of such cases can be a complex unexpected operation, an unscheduled meeting. This sector is very important for a person's life, but if you learn how to plan your time correctly, then ideally this square should be completely empty, without any plans. With the timely implementation of the main plans, significant tasks will not become urgent, their implementation within a specific time frame does not make them urgent.

Sector A plans can appear for two reasons:

internal causes: depend directly on the person (insufficient motivation to perform, laziness, lack of desire or professionalism);
external causes: do not depend on the subject himself (a sharp deterioration in well-being, force majeure).

So that these reasons do not interfere with the implementation of activities, you do not need to postpone valuable optional tasks (this is already sector B) for the last day, since some conditions may affect their non-fulfillment and then you will accumulate valuable tasks.

Quadrant B

Important non-urgent. The plans of this sector must be regularly implemented, without postponing for later, since their timely implementation is an indicator of your productivity and success in your activities. The deeds of this quadrant do not require doing here and now, but their value indicates the occurrence of negative consequences if ignored by a person. The more significant the task is for you, the more negative will be the consequences of its failure. That is why you should prioritize important matters, then - urgent. For ideal self-satisfaction, a person must complete significant urgent and significant non-urgent tasks in full. The tasks of this sector include, for example, an immediate visit to a doctor, mastering the skills to successfully perform activities in a new workplace in order to get another promotion.

“It’s better to do the important tasks on which your life depends first than the unimportant ones.”

D. D. Eisenhower

The Eisenhower matrix as a prioritization tool shows: if you sort your plans correctly and on time, then in any sphere of human life there will be no rush jobs that exhaust the human body physically and psychologically. Sector B will not move into Sector A if we properly plan our tasks for the first time.

Quadrant C

It doesn't matter, it's urgent. The urgency of plans does not always determine their significance. Eisenhower said that if urgent tasks interfere with the execution of valuable ones, then it is better to postpone them. To understand the importance of your plans, ask yourself a simple question: “What will happen if this task is not completed?” If you understand that there are no negative consequences or they are minimal, then the case is not important at the moment. Look for more meaningful tasks that really threaten negative consequences for you.

These activities include, for example, participation in a social survey, calling a friend just to chat. The plans of the “sector C” have a significant disadvantage: they prevent a person from working effectively and doing important things, because they are constantly distracting, making you worry. Any distraction threatens with negative consequences, so if there is any interference in the performance of significant tasks, try to either eliminate them before performing. If you carry out only urgent matters, a huge number of important matters can accumulate at one moment and then it is difficult to direct yourself in the right direction, to concentrate on their implementation.

Quadrant D

Not urgent, not important. This sector combines the most unnecessary non-urgent things, their implementation is not beneficial at the moment. If a person concentrates on them, then significant things will accumulate very quickly and lead to negative consequences. This includes, for example, hanging on social networks, various computer games that simply kill a person’s time without any benefit.

But not all non-urgent unimportant tasks are so useless. If you have long wanted to neatly arrange books in your library, or clean out your closet with clothes, then doing these things will bring benefits and pleasure from the result, but you should not strive to do them when you have important things to do.

The Eisenhower table as a way of effective planning is a useful method for identifying significant valuable cases, helping to complete them in a fairly short time. It is designed to complete one-day tasks or those that need to be completed in the near future.

Goals of the Eisenhower Method

Everyone can learn how to plan their personal time if they wish, there is nothing complicated here. For help, the Eisenhower table described by us can be used as a tool for setting priorities. Having analyzed in detail each quadrant of the matrix, it is possible to determine the main goals of this technique.

self-organization. Knowing that significant things await you, you will not waste time, but will try to do everything on time. Having singled out the main plans, a person can quickly organize himself for their implementation. Having fixed the main thing, you can immediately see what has been done, and what else needs to be done today or tomorrow.
Good planning of your plans. The purpose of the method is the successful completion of a person's plan, and not rewriting cases from one quadrant to another.
Learn to manage your time effectively. Highlighting important tasks helps you mentally determine the amount of time to complete them. A person roughly calculates in his mind how much it takes to complete important non-urgent tasks so that they do not suddenly go into quadrant A.

The Eisenhower matrix, being one of the main and popular methods of planning, will help everyone learn to manage themselves, organize themselves at the right time, solve their problems in a short period of time.

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's happened
eisenhower matrix

The Eisenhower matrix is used to plan for a short period of time (one or more days). This 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. 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 matters.

Cases are placed in this quadrant 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 telephone 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 reduce 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;
will help you determine what you need to do to get better results.

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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.