The Eisenhower Matrix

Professor Richard Wiseman suggests that 24% of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators while humorously adding that this probably underestimates the scale of the problem since many others delayed filling in the form. Managing your time efficiently and doing tasks in a timely fashion is critical in business, so how do you prioritise your to-do list efficiently? The Eisenhower Matrix can help.

Eisenhower said 'What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.' The Eisenhower Matrix, also known as the Urgent-Important matrix helps you in this respect prioritize your workload.

The matrix is also a wonderfully simple tool: on the horizontal (x-axis) is how urgent the task is, and on the vertical axis (y-axis) is how important the task is. This naturally leads to four camps:

Urgent and Important: this is the top right quadrant and these tasks should be done immediately.

Not urgent and not important: this is the bottom left quadrant, and these tasks need not be done at all.

Urgent but not important: the bottom right quadrant, these tasks can be delegated to subordinates.

Important but not urgent: the top left quadrant, since these tasks are important, you should decide when you will do them and perhaps diarise them. This is also called the Schedule quadrant. 

The website Eisenhower.me also usefully that you should always maintain only one list for both personal and private tasks which will help a long way towards the cherished 'work-life balance'.