Eisenhower Method to Prioritize Work Loads.
I recently coached with a manager struggling in a new role. His role is new to the organization, and he shared that he has been working with the volume of daily decisions and how to prioritize those decisions effectively.
I thought back to a past promotional process that many organizations, like my police department, used to test the flexibility and multi-tasking ability of a person seeking promotion.
It was affectionately known as the ‘in-basket exercise.’
It was a pile of memos, requests, demands, and orders randomly piled on the applicant’s desk. The applicant then had to sort through the tasks and make decisions based on their fictional (but highly realistic) “day in the life” of a supervisor at the police station.
Many of you will have done something similar to this.
The idea is to test their decision-making ability when faced with many tasks that kept changing as more memos and tasks were added throughout the test. It was akin to spinning plates on sticks; each one needed paying attention lest it fell off. You just had to know which plates were plastic and which were bone-China.
Eisenhower Matrix – How to Prioritize
The Eisenhower Matrix is one tool that can help you with this process. It’s a decision-making framework popularized by Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States.
He presented the idea that would later lead to the Eisenhower Matrix in a speech.
He quoted an unnamed university president as saying,
“I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States.
Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, used Eisenhower’s words to develop the now-popular task management tool, the Eisenhower 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.
It helps you prioritize your tasks based on urgency and importance.
Leaders often need help balancing what’s urgent and truly important.
But mastering this balance can elevate your leadership to a whole new level.
The Priority Matrix
The matrix splits into four quadrants:
- Urgent and Important – Do it now.
- Important but Not Urgent – Schedule it.
- Urgent but Not Important – Delegate it.
- Not Urgent and Not Important – Delete it.
Sounds simple, right?
But its real power lies in consistent practice.
Quadrant 1: Urgent & Important – Do it (now)
Quadrant one is the “do” quadrant, and this is where you’ll place any tasks that are both urgent and important. When you see a must-do-now task on your to-do list that has clear consequences and affects your long-term goals, place it in this quadrant.
There should be no question about which tasks fall into this quadrant because these tasks are at the front of your mind and are likely stressing you out the most.
Quadrant 2: Important but Not Urgent – Schedule it
Quadrant two is the “schedule” quadrant, where you’ll place tasks that are not urgent but still important. Because these tasks affect your long-term goals but don’t need attention immediately, you can schedule these tasks for later.
You’ll tackle these tasks right after the tasks in quadrant one. You can use various time management ideas to help you accomplish the tasks in this quadrant. Some helpful strategies include the Pareto Principle and the Pomodoro Method.
The best leaders invest their time here.
Suggestion: share this diagram with your staff and coach them in the Eisenhower Method.
Quadrant 3: Urgent but Not Important – Delegate it
Quadrant three is the “delegate” quadrant, and this is where you’ll place any tasks that are urgent but not important. These tasks require attention but don’t affect your long-term goals.
You can delegate these tasks to other team members because you don’t have a personal attachment to them, and they likely don’t require your specific skill set to complete. Delegating tasks is one of the most efficient ways to manage your workload and allow your team to expand their skill set.
Quadrant 4: Not Urgent & Not Important – Delete it
Once you’ve gone through your to-do list and added tasks to the first three quadrants, you’ll notice that a handful of tasks are left over. These tasks are neither important nor urgent. DELETE
These unimportant, non-urgent distractions are simply getting in the way of you accomplishing your goals.
Here’s the reality: the more time you spend here, the less effective you are as a leader.
How to Apply the Eisenhower Matrix as a Leader
Knowing the matrix isn’t enough. It’s about application.
The best way to understand the difference between urgency and importance is to use the Eisenhower Matrix, but you may still struggle to prioritize your tasks.
Here are two additional tips to help you prioritize your tasks in each quadrant.
1. Colour-code your tasks
Color-coding your tasks is a tactic that can help you visualize high-priority items.
As you review your to-do list, try giving yourself four colors based on the priority level.
Use the code as follows:
- GREEN = Highest priority items – quadrant one.
- YELLOW = Second-highest priority – quadrant two
- BLUE = Third-highest priority – quadrant three.
- RED = Not a priority – 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.
Your Eisenhower Matrix will help keep your lists manageable.
Great Leaders Don’t React – They Anticipate
Great leaders don’t just react—they anticipate.
They don’t just manage—they lead.
The Eisenhower Matrix helps you step out of the daily grind and into a more strategic mindset.
It gives you clarity and helps you focus.
You will discover more control over your time and priorities.
