Abhishek Nair

The development of Eisenhower of matrix came into motion by Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States. His accomplishments stretched before and after he became the President. He achieved endeavours include:

1. Instating programmes such as DARPA and NASA
2. Instating the development of the Highway system in the US
3. Served as the President of Columbia University
4. Become the first supreme commander of NATO
5. Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe
6. Chief of Staff of the US Army

His productivity system referred to as the Eisenhower matrix highlights his ability to sustain his productive endeavours for a long period. In this method of Eisenhower matrix, the simplistic nature of this decision-making tool is used to highlight what’s important and urgent on your agenda.

So, let’s break this down:

It consists of four different quadrants and for each quadrant, there’s an actionable outcome on how to separate each task or objective in your to-do list.

1. Urgent and important – these are tasks that should be completed now. 
2. Important, but not urgent – can be scheduled at a later time or date.
3. Urgent, but not important – tasks that can be delegated to others.
4. Neither urgent nor important – task that can be eliminated or deleted.

There’s a feedback thought pattern behind this matrix because it makes the user’s question the ‘importance’ of the task. For tasks involving that are urgent and important, they should complete now like writing this post so I can publish it tonight. Tasks that are important, but not urgent should be scheduled like exercising, doing grocery shopping or calling family or friends. Differently, to urgent but not important tasks should be delegated to others like hiring a virtual assistant to carry out administrative work like answer emails or booking flights. And, finally, tasks that are neither urgent nor important like watching TV or spending hours on social media should not be entertained.

I found this matrix to be helpful because as a framework I can visualise the importance of each task. It allows me to make a conscious decision on what to focus on. Concerning with long term goals, this matrix provides an advantage of creating an overview and narrowing down on areas of procrastination.

Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below 🙂