The Eisenhower Matrix tool for prioritizing the tasks

 The Eisenhower Matrix is a task management tool that helps you organize and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance. Using the tool, you’ll divide your tasks into four boxes based on the tasks you’ll do first, the tasks you’ll schedule for later, the tasks you’ll delegate, and the tasks you’ll delete. .

What is the Eisenhower Matrix?

The Eisenhower Matrix is a way to organize tasks by urgency and importance, so you can effectively prioritize your most important work. 

Dwight D. Eisenhower—the 34th President of the United States and a five-star general during World War II—presented the idea that would later lead to the Eisenhower Matrix. In a 1954 speech, Eisenhower quoted an unnamed university president when he said, “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” 

Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, took Eisenhower’s words and used them to develop the now-popular task management tool known as the Eisenhower Matrix. 

The Eisenhower Matrix is also known as the time management matrix, the Eisenhower Box, and the urgent-important matrix. This tool helps you divide your tasks into four categories: the tasks you’ll do first, the tasks you’ll schedule for later, the tasks you’ll delegate, and the tasks you’ll delete.

4 tips for prioritizing your tasks

The best way to understand the difference between urgency and importance is to use the Eisenhower Matrix, but you may still find yourself struggling to prioritize your tasks. Here are some tips that can help you with prioritization as you sort your tasks in each quadrant.  

Color-code your tasks

Color-coding your tasks is a tactic that can help you visualize high-priority items. As you go through your to-do list tool, try giving yourself four colors based on level of priority. Use the code as follows:

• Green = Highest priority items

• Yellow = Second-highest priority

• Blue = Third-highest priority

• Red = Not a priority

Once you’ve labeled your tasks by color, these colors will directly translate to your Eisenhower Matrix. Your green tasks are your “do” tasks for quadrant one. Your yellow tasks are your “schedule” tasks for quadrant two. Your blue tasks are your “delegate” tasks for quadrant three, and your red tasks are your “delete” tasks for quadrant four.

2. Limit tasks to 10 per quadrant

Even if you have a lot of tasks on your to-do list, try to limit your tasks to 10 items per quadrant. This will keep your Eisenhower Matrix from becoming cluttered and overwhelming. 

You can make multiple matrices, but limiting your task list to necessary action items will ensure you’re beginning the prioritization process with no time to waste.

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3. Make personal and professional to-do lists

Another way to limit the number of items on your Eisenhower Matrix is to create separate matrices for your personal and professional to-do lists. 

Your work and personal tasks require different timelines, resources, and methods, and they’ll likely require different thought processes as well. In order to effectively manage your personal and professional goals, you’ll need to divide and conquer. 

4. Eliminate, then prioritize

Eliminate unnecessary tasks first to effectively prioritize. With this strategy, you’ll address quadrant four before moving on to quadrants one, two, and three. 

As you skim through your to-do list, assess what items you’ve written down that don’t need to be there. 

In fact, 60% of our time at work is spent on work about work—things like sharing status approvals or following up on information. If you can quickly scratch off items, go ahead and do so. This will speed up the prioritization process, and you’ll likely go through a second round of elimination on the back end.