How to Be Organized? Try This

The Eisenhower Matrix

Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States of America. He was very famous in his time for his ability to manage time and for the great effectiveness of results. Let’s introduce you to the Eisenhower matrix, a tool that helps you decide and prioritize your precious time.

Whether it’s a list of tasks or concurrent situations that you need to pay attention to or solve, let’s describe them in a generic way:

Let’s organize this list of tasks in the best way to be performed, according to the Eisenhower matrix.

Draw a horizontal line across the middle of a blank sheet of paper.

Everything that is of an important character, in his conception, will be above the line and what is not of that quality, then will be below it.

Then draw a vertical line, so that the sheet of paper is now divided into four areas.

These four regions will then form a matrix. Each area of ​​this matrix can be called a quadrant.

The quadrants must be read in a counterclockwise sequence.

And given this convention, we will arrange the tasks in the quadrants according to the following criteria:

Above the horizontal line:

• In the first quadrant, the tasks of an urgent aspect will be written, therefore the tasks will be: important and urgent;
• In the second quadrant, the non-urgent tasks will be written, therefore the tasks will be: important and not urgent;

Below the horizontal line:

• In the third quadrant, the urgent aspect tasks will be written, therefore the tasks will be: not important and urgent;
• In the fourth quadrant, the non-urgent aspect tasks will be written, therefore the tasks will be: not important and not urgent.

One recommendation is that tasks of an important nature would be where your presence is required. Urgent tasks, on the other hand, would be those where there is a deadline issue, that is, those that demand to be done immediately.

In the case of important tasks that do not require immediate execution, then they can be scheduled and therefore fall on the second quadrant.

In the case of tasks that do not require your presence, but with a deadline then, in this case you can delegate to someone else to do it and so it falls under the third quadrant.

Tasks that do not fit into the first three quadrants were then placed in the fourth quadrant, which, upon analysis, could be eliminated, for example if found to be just distractions.

Of course, as the tasks are performed, those that remain must be reallocated according to the adopted criteria.