The Eisenhower Matrix as a tool for prioritizing: urgent or important? Eisenhower Matrix. Or how to prioritize things correctly

The Eisenhower Matrix as a priority setting tool is one of the main methods for successfully planning and executing things. In this article we will look at this technique in more detail, since it is the most popular time management method used for a long time in all spheres of life.

“Life has value if it represents a constant struggle for a worthy cause”

D. D. Eisenhower

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The world-famous 34th President of America, David Eisenhower, tried to understand time management. It was the study of this area that made him popular throughout the world. He studied in detail ways of effective planning and step-by-step implementation of plans. This is how the Eisenhower Matrix appeared as a tool for setting priorities. We will look at his technique in more detail later in our article.

Time management– a person’s ability to correctly distribute his time to complete planned tasks. This phenomenon has been studied for many years by various psychologists, everyone tried to understand how this method of properly planning what was planned works. Renowned psychologist David Allen has written a book on the fundamentals and practice of effective planning.

Nowadays, vanity and diversity modern life increasingly forces us to turn to methods for successfully structuring the intended tasks and correctly and quickly implementing them. Correct prioritization allows you to quickly and efficiently complete work of any complexity, comprehend your mistakes, and learn new skills in the process of achieving your goal.

Eisenhower's Personality in the Study of Time Management

David Eisenhower was a famous US President. He became famous throughout the world for his intelligence and organizational skills. During his life, he built a brilliant military career, which left a significant mark on the history of America. He successfully completed all tasks, always achieved the goals he set for himself, which earned him respect and became an example for many public figures.

Eisenhower believed that to live life well means to engage in worthy work that brings pleasure to its subject and benefit to others. As president, he increasingly asked himself questions about how to get everything done, done correctly and ultimately with success. These thoughts led him to create a method for arranging important tasks, which is intensively used in our time.

Thanks to his resourcefulness, confidence and striving for excellence, Eisenhower achieved success in everything; he accomplished everything he planned on time, without much difficulty. Many figures of his time were only surprised at his self-organization and tried to follow his methods of government, since the personality of such a president really deserves respect and could well be an example to follow. The Eisenhower Matrix as a prioritization tool is one of the main ways you can organize your work plan in your daily life.

Features of the Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix as a tool for prioritizing is a popular time management technique that allows you to carry out planned activities correctly and on time, and determine significant goals for yourself for a specific period of time. The basis of the Eisenhower table are four so-called quadrants of cases. The basis for its creation was significant and urgent tasks that accumulated over a short period of time due to various factors.

These quadrants are also called Eisenhower windows because they are depicted in a square table. The Eisenhower table looks like this.

A quadrant Important urgent matters

IN quadrant Important non-urgent

WITH quadrant Unimportant urgent

D quadrant Unimportant non-urgent

Anyone who wants to learn how to properly manage their time can make such a table for themselves. The Eisenhower Matrix as a prioritization tool will help you deal with accumulated tasks in a very short period of time.

Once we understand the basic structure of the prioritization method, we can look at each window of the Eisenhower Matrix in detail. The Eisenhower Matrix as a prioritization tool is useful for determining the importance of your plans at a particular point in time.

Quadrant A

It includes important urgent tasks, which cannot be postponed until later, as this can lead to negative consequences. For successful planning, you need to start with sector A. An example of such cases could be a complex unexpected operation or an unscheduled meeting. This sector is very important for a person’s life, but if you learn to plan your time correctly, then ideally this square should be completely empty, without any plans. If major plans are completed on time, significant tasks will not become urgent; their implementation within a specific time frame does not make them urgent.

Sector A plans can appear for two reasons:

• internal reasons: depend directly on the person (lack of motivation to perform, laziness, lack of desire or professionalism);
• external reasons: do not depend on the subject himself (sharp deterioration in health, force majeure).

To prevent these reasons from interfering with your activities, you do not need to postpone valuable optional tasks (this is already sector B) until the last day, since some conditions may affect their non-fulfillment and then you will accumulate valuable tasks.

Quadrant B

Important non-urgent. The plans of this sector must be carried out regularly, without postponing until later, since their timely implementation is an indicator of your productivity and success in your activities. The affairs of this quadrant do not require fulfillment here and now, but their value indicates the occurrence of negative consequences if a person ignores them. The more significant the task is for you, the more negative the consequences of its failure will be. That is why you should give preference to important matters first, then urgent ones. For ideal self-satisfaction, a person must complete meaningful urgent and meaningful non-urgent tasks completely. The tasks of this sector include, for example, immediately seeing a doctor, mastering the skills to successfully perform activities in a new workplace in order to get the next promotion.

“It’s better to do the important tasks that affect your life first than the unimportant ones.”

D. D. Eisenhower

The Eisenhower Matrix as a tool for prioritizing shows: if you sort your plans correctly and in a timely manner, then in any area of ​​human life there will be no rush jobs that exhaust the human body physically and psychologically. Sector B will not move to sector A if we correctly plan our tasks for the first time.

Quadrant C

It doesn't matter, it's urgent. The urgency of plans does not always determine their importance. Eisenhower said that if urgent tasks interfere with the execution of valuable ones, then it is better to postpone them. To understand the importance of your plans, ask yourself a simple question: “What will happen if you don’t complete this task?” If you realize that there are no or minimal negative consequences, then the matter is not important in this moment. Look for more meaningful tasks that actually threaten negative consequences for you.

These types of activities include, for example, participating in a social survey, calling a friend just to chat. “Sector C” plans have a significant drawback: they prevent a person from working effectively and doing important things, since they are constantly distracting and make them worry. Any distraction can have negative consequences, so if any interference occurs when performing important tasks, try to either eliminate them before performing them. If you carry out only urgent matters, a huge number of important things can accumulate at one moment and then it is difficult to direct yourself in the right direction and concentrate to carry them out.

Quadrant D

Not urgent, not important. This sector brings together the most unnecessary non-urgent tasks; their implementation does not bring any benefit at the moment. If a person concentrates on them, then significant things will accumulate very quickly and lead to negative consequences. This includes, for example, hanging out on social networks, various computer games, which simply kill a person’s time without any benefit.

But not all non-urgent, unimportant tasks are so useless. If you have long wanted to neatly arrange books in your library, or clean out your closet with clothes, then doing these things will bring benefits and pleasure from the result, but you should not strive to do them if you have important things to do.

The Eisenhower table as a method of effective planning is a useful method for identifying significant valuable tasks and helps to complete them in a fairly short period of time. It is designed to complete one-day tasks or those that need to be completed in the near future.

Goals of the Eisenhower Method

Anyone can learn to plan their personal time if they wish; there is nothing complicated here. To help, you can use the Eisenhower table we described as a priority setting tool. Having analyzed each quadrant of the matrix in detail, it is possible to determine the main goals of this technique.

1. Self-organization. Knowing that significant things await you, you will not waste time, but will try to do everything on time. Having identified the main plans, a person can quickly organize himself to implement them. Having fixed the main thing, you can immediately see what has been done and what still needs to be done today or tomorrow.
2. High-quality planning of your plans. The goal of the method is for a person to successfully complete what he has planned, and not to rewrite things from one quadrant to another.
3. Learn to plan your time effectively. Highlighting important tasks helps you mentally determine the amount of time to complete them. A person roughly calculates in his mind how much is needed to complete important non-urgent tasks so that they do not suddenly move into sector A.

The Eisenhower Matrix, being one of the main and popular methods of planning, will help everyone learn to manage themselves, organize themselves at the right time, and solve their problems in a short period of time.

It is very easy to get confused in the cycle of life events. Children are taught to distribute their time correctly by adults, who often themselves put everything off for later. As a rule, this “later” never comes. All planned tasks are smoothly pushed aside by others and in the end turn into one continuous lump of unsolved problems.

The problem most often lies not in the number of cases, but in an irrationally drawn up schedule. People do not pay enough attention to planning their activities. But by spending very little personal time learning the basics of time management, you can save a lot in the future. Then in life there will be a place not only for eternal problems, but also for yourself and your family. One of the simplest and effective techniques planning is the Eisenhower principle.

What is the essence of technology?

The principle of the Eisenhower matrix is ​​the competent distribution of tasks depending on the degree of their importance. It helps to break down the entire list of tasks into important and unimportant, urgent and not so urgent. Using the matrix, you can determine the period of time that will be needed to solve the problem, because something requires more attention, and some things are not worth even five minutes spent on them.

To achieve success, you need to follow a certain algorithm. The order of required actions depends on the priority of tasks. As a rule, it is difficult to concentrate on one goal various factors: personal problems, surrounding people, habits, etc. The Eisenhower method can help you get rid of weaknesses and focus only on useful actions.

How did this principle arise, by whom was it formed?

The described principle of time management was substantiated by the thirty-fourth President of the United States of America, Dwight David Eisenhower. The politician could not leave a single task unsolved, so he tried to make his schedule as rational and optimized as possible. As a result, Eisenhower converted all the tasks into a matrix.

Today, the president’s method is used by office workers, managers, and senior executives. This suggests that this method of prioritization is indeed effective and relevant.

What is Dwight Eisenhower's matrix?

The Eisenhower square (or principles is based on the construction of a matrix. The basics of the matrix are the axis of importance (abscissa) and the axis of urgency (ordinate). Their mutual intersection gives four squares, each of which is filled with tasks according to their distribution.

So, first you need to decide what is important and what is urgent. Important matters have the greatest impact on achieving results, and urgent tasks require immediate completion. In general, a picture is formed that gives a complete picture of the state of affairs.

The matrix will allow you to set the right priorities - what can wait and what cannot be delayed.

What is included in square A?

The first square, located in the upper left corner, is called square A. The most important and urgent tasks are written in this cell. Ideally, this square should be empty, since rationally distributed time makes it possible to avoid the presence of cases of this kind in principle.

Cases of increased importance include:

• health problems that usually arise at the most inopportune times;
• anything that may have a negative impact on the results of operations;
• tasks, failure to do so could lead to new problems.

A person’s self-control is responsible for the fullness of this square. After all, if new cases appear every day in cell A, the Eisenhower principle will not help. Here we should turn to time management in principle, but first we need to deal with all the things that will fill square A in the near future.

Despite the highest priority of this square, you can delegate the solution to the problems that fill the cell to someone else. But this is only if this is possible, and matters do not necessarily require personal participation.

What tasks does square B involve?

This part of the matrix is ​​filled with daily activities. As a rule, this includes everything that deserves the most attention. These are important but not urgent matters, most of which are related to the main activity of a person. The low urgency of tasks will allow you not to make hasty decisions, and a constructive and reasonable approach will make it possible to complete all tasks more efficiently.

The activities of people who mainly solve problems from square B are more productive. With good work results, such people have enough time for their personal lives and do not experience constant stress. This square consists of tasks that are of little importance and, perhaps, to some extent mundane, but these are what human activity mainly consists of.

Tasks from sector B greatly influence both moral and material well-being. These are sports, diet, sleep, educational and work activities - those things that you cannot do without, but they are usually given the least attention, leaving a lot to chance.

What activities are included in square C?

Square C includes those things that do not bring you closer to your cherished goal, but, on the contrary, slow down events and delay the completion of truly important tasks. Most often, they require an urgent investment of time, but distract and lead astray. Here it is important to always remember the results of your activities and goals and not switch to secondary things.

You can safely include household chores and promises made to someone in this sector. In general, these matters are not so much important as urgent.

What is included in square D?

For people who do not know how to plan time correctly, tasks from this square take up greatest number time. These tasks can rather be called not problems, but pleasant worries, which, moreover, bring absolutely no rational benefit. The influence of square D must be, if not eliminated, then at least tried to be reduced.

Don’t replace rest with aimless monitoring social networks, watching TV shows or series, empty chatter on the phone. You can also spend your free time for the benefit of yourself and those around you: family, loved ones and friends.

Where is Dwight Eisenhower's principle used?

The described technique for distributing tasks is used not only to rationalize time. Accelerated analysis according to the Eisenhower principle is used, for example, to determine the necessary functions of retail facilities. Product improvement at all stages life cycle received the name This principle combines economic and technical techniques for determining the relationship between the properties of a product and its costs. The latter must be logical and pay off.

What is the Eisenhower principle in the FSA has been studied by many experts from countries with market economy: France, Germany, UK, USA. As a result, it was revealed that in order to determine the range of relevant functions of an object, it is important to maintain proportions between their necessity and cost. The Eisenhower principle in FSA is to analyze a product and distribute its properties into three categories:

1. Category A. Main or fundamental functions: the direct purpose of the product, for the provision of which it is necessary to spend a larger amount of money.
2. Category B. Secondary functions of the product that are associated with the main ones. The presence of such additions is welcome, but the absence does not affect sales too much.
3. Category C. Superfluous functions, the absence of which will in no way affect the quality of the product. By avoiding spending on add-ons that are completely unnecessary, you can save a lot of money.

Practice of application of the Eisenhower principle

It is not at all necessary to distribute tasks exactly in the form of a matrix - in a square, but at first you can do just that to ensure clarity. It is convenient to convert the standard one into several lists or a general plan, where things from different squares are highlighted in color. So, for example, simultaneously urgent and important tasks (square A) can be written in red ink, important but not urgent in green (sector B), unimportant but urgent tasks (square C) in blue, and in black - unimportant and non-urgent. At the same time, the degree of importance of a particular matter should be assessed not in the mind, but on paper. This is how tasks take shape and their implementation becomes more realistic.

Why should this method be used?

The principle can help you change your life in terms of rationalizing your personal time. Using this method allows you to spend less time on unnecessary tasks and focus on the most promising things, as well as devote sufficient time to good rest, avoiding the so-called time wasters: television, aimless wandering through the Internet, and the like.

A person who applies the principles of time management in his daily activities is not only more successful than others, according to statistics, but also healthier, since he does not experience constant stress associated with overload and constant deadlines. (Eisenhower principle or any other) will help you optimize your life activities in all areas.

Hello! In this article we will talk about one of the most effective tools time management - the Eisenhower matrix.

Today you will learn:

• What is the Eisenhower Matrix;
• How you can apply the matrix in everyday life (with examples);
• What techniques will help you save time?

“It’s a long day until the evening, if there’s nothing to do,” says folk wisdom. Completely different aphorisms arise from busy people who are racing against time: “How can we add a twenty-fifth hour to the day?”

In conditions of multitasking, sooner or later every business person faces the question of proper distribution of time resources. The starting conditions are equal for every inhabitant on the planet - an hour includes sixty minutes for absolutely everyone. But how effectively people manage their time largely determines the difference between a successful person and a perennial loser.

The Eisenhower Matrix as a method of organizing time

Time management, or, is the conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities in order to increase their effectiveness and productivity.

Eisenhower Matrix is one of the popular time management tools that is used to prioritize business and personal tasks. It is based on the principle of dividing all cases into four categories, depending on their degree of importance and urgency. The matrix is ​​most convenient to use for short- and medium-term planning.

This approach was invented by Dwight David Eisenhower, an Army general during World War II and later the thirty-fourth President of the United States. The politician always admired those around him with his ability to do everything.

Once upon a time, an American searched in vain for some effective way to manage time and, not finding it among the existing ones, developed it on his own. The Time Matrix is ​​still amazing in its simplicity and genius, and millions of people around the world use it for planning.

Visually, the priority matrix is ​​divided into four quadrants, where things fit into categories: important and urgent, important and non-urgent, unimportant and urgent, unimportant and non-urgent.

The user of the matrix is ​​asked to enter all of his planned activities into these quadrants. The biggest work happens precisely when a person makes a choice between these fields, thus deciding which things need to be done first and which ones second.

Characteristics of quadrants

Quadrant A: important and urgent

This field should be used to record matters that relate to priority areas of a person’s life and cannot be delayed. These areas are usually family, career (for students - study), health and safety.

These cases correspond to the following statements:

1. Failure to do this in the near future will significantly move you away from one of your long-term life goals.

Example. You are expecting a promotion in the near future. The manager asks you to submit a progress report as quickly as possible. It is important? Yes, because you don't want to miss out on a chance for career growth. This is urgent? Yes, because now is the time to show your performance.

1. Failure to seek medical help promptly can have dire consequences.

Example. You have a toothache. Important? Everything related to health is always important. Urgently? You risk losing your tooth and won’t last long on painkillers.

Quadrant B: important and non-urgent

Successful people do most of their work in this quadrant. These are everyday activities that invariably serve to achieve major goals in all areas of life. They are all important, but there is no rush, as is the case with the A quadrant.

A successful person does not bring his important affairs to a state of emergency, but completes them gradually. He most often has time to make decisions thoughtfully, building the building of his future brick by brick.

This zone includes all everyday activities that directly relate to priority areas of life: work, family, self-development, health.

A single criterion applies to them:

• The task must be completed, but it can be postponed for a while if something important and urgent comes up.

Example. You are a programmer and must submit the program you wrote by Monday. Today is only Thursday, you have everything ready, but you decided to postpone submitting your work until Friday to check everything carefully again.

Cases from quadrant B, if not given enough attention, can migrate to quadrant A. Your goal is to prevent this from happening. It happens that an important matter appears suddenly, for reasons beyond your control. But often we ourselves bring things to this state, ignoring preventive examinations with a doctor and postponing the completion of important tasks until the deadline.

Quadrant S: Unimportant and Urgent

These tasks lie some distance from your main priorities, but doing them makes your life more comfortable and can serve you well over time.

This area contains meetings and conversations that you attend out of politeness or out of necessity, including birthdays of not very close people, unexpected household chores, and some work tasks.

Affairs of this quadrant have the following characteristics:

1. Completing this task quickly will help.

Example. You were planning to buy an air conditioner and heard about a sale that will only last for one day. Important? Not particularly. The world will not collapse unless you buy an air conditioner cheaper than you planned. Urgently? Yes, the sale is valid for one day. A nice bonus: an urgent purchase will allow you to save a little on your family’s budget.

1. Indirectly, completing these tasks may benefit the underlying goals, although this is not guaranteed.

Example. You are a journalist. You are invited to a banquet, where the editor of the newspaper you are interested in may come. Important? Not particularly, everything is too vague. Urgently? Yes, because the banquet will not last forever, you need to make a decision - either to go or not.

It is likely that you will find someone to delegate a case from this quadrant. Your spouse, acquaintance, colleague, subordinate can do some unimportant urgent work for you.

Quadrant D: Unimportant and non-urgent

All matters in this quadrant can be divided into business and entertainment. To-dos include tasks that ensure your comfort and make you and your life more beautiful (for example, caring for your appearance), but the matter can wait for some time.

For a woman, this could be a visit to a manicurist; for a man, it could be washing his car. Of course, these things are important in themselves, but not in relation to your main areas of life.

The second group includes a pleasant pastime. It is usually believed that there is no benefit from these tasks, they are called “time wasters”, they are presented as things that people would rather not do, and getting rid of them is a laudable goal.

You can only speak so categorically about bad habits like smoking and systematic drinking of strong alcohol. Examples of things like communicating on social networks, watching light movies, hanging out in clubs, playing computer games - all this has the right to be and is necessary for a person if it relaxes him and gives him pleasure.

Firstly, a person is not a robot, he needs to do something just for the soul.

Secondly, unimportant and non-urgent matters can be beneficial. Many computer games develop thinking, communication on social networks teaches you to express thoughts, dancing in clubs helps you warm up. In addition, it has long been known that a change of activity is the best rest.

The main condition for this quadrant is not to let it take over most of your time and ignore the main things that move you forward in life.

How to put the Eisenhower matrix into practice

So, after reviewing the theoretical part, you can experience the effect of the matrix on yourself.

1. The evening before your first experimental day, open the diary to the appropriate date and draw a four-page spread. Label them as shown in the matrix. If you don’t have a diary, you can take a regular sheet. If you always carry a tablet or laptop with you, you can create a matrix in Excel.
2. On a separate sheet of paper, write down in a column all the things you plan to do tomorrow (when you acquire the skill of quickly distributing all the things in the matrix, you will no longer need this item).
3. Read the cases one at a time and rewrite each one into the appropriate quadrant of the matrix. To do this, you only need to answer two questions: Is it important? Is it urgent?

1. In the case of a paper version, leave free place in each field - tomorrow you will remember other things to do and add them.
2. Highlight already completed tasks with a marker (color).
3. At the end of the day, transfer uncompleted tasks to the next day (be sure to rewrite them on a new spread of the diary or copy them in a new Excel tab - otherwise they will be “lost”).
4. Do not deny yourself the pleasure at the end of the day to review all the “colored” parts of your matrix, that is, all completed tasks. You will feel the satisfaction of a business man whose day was not wasted.

Example of a completed Eisenhower matrix

With our example, we will do as we advised in the previous paragraph - first we will write down all the cases in a row, and then distribute them in the matrix. In the first-person example, a professional massage therapist will reflect.

Here is his list of tasks for the day (with commentary to let the reader understand the degree of importance and urgency):

• Today there are 4 massages: at 9 o’clock, at 11 o’clock, at 15 o’clock, at 20 o’clock (during the breaks I’ll do other things);
• Go to the accounting department (according to the contract, I should receive 60% of the cost for a massage, but in fact I only receive 50% - figure out why);
• Buy food for the cat (good thing I looked - there’s only one feeding left);
• Visit a friend in the hospital (a close friend who broke his arm yesterday, bring him something tasty);
• Go to the bank, make a payment for the mortgage (today is the last day when you can pay without a penalty);
• Stop by a friend's house to pick up a tent (today is Tuesday, we're planning a family camping trip on Saturday);
• Go to the pool (the more often I go, the better);
• Buy groceries (there is still some stuff in the refrigerator, we’ll last a couple of days);
• Reply to messages on WhatsApp and VKontakte (just conversations);
• Practice English for at least 20 minutes (there are many foreigners among the clients, you need to improve your language);
• Buy a new gasket for the faucet (the faucet is still dripping, but it’s on the verge);
• Go to an appointment with an ophthalmologist (every year, just in case, I undergo an examination);
• Get a haircut (the look is still neat, but it’s better not to delay it);
• Send a book about exercises for back muscles to a colleague (I promised that as soon as I’m at the computer, I’ll send it right away).

	URGENTLY	DO NOT RUSH
IMPORTANT	Today there are 4 massages: at 9 a.m., at 11 a.m., at 3 p.m., at 8 p.m. Visit a friend in the hospital	Visit friends for a tent (family camping trip) Go to an appointment with an ophthalmologist Go to accounting Practice English
DOESN'T MATTER	Go to the bank, make a mortgage payment Buy cat food Buy a new faucet gasket Send the book to a colleague	Get a haircut Buy products Go to the pool Reply to messages on WhatsApp and VKontakte

Remember: the same thing for different people can live in different quadrants of the matrix. For example, for someone, pursuing a hobby may be both important and unimportant. You and only you can distribute your affairs as you see your life priorities.

Under what conditions will the Eisenhower Matrix be useful to you?

Some skeptics believe that the Eisenhower matrix is ​​only suitable for managers, while a simple employee, worker or housewife will not be able to use it in practice (which is false - the matrix is ​​universal, we proved this by taking as an example the cases of a massage therapist, not a businessman).

In reality, the question is not about the possibility or impossibility of using the matrix, but about the appropriateness of its use.

The Eisenhower system is used for planning for each day. That is we're talking about not about long-term plans (build a house, go on vacation, graduate from university), but about current tasks.

On the one hand, if a person has so few daily tasks that his memory can easily cope with them, there is no point in using the table. For example, an employee’s entire plan for the day is to spend his eight hours at work and then drink beer with friends in the evening. This table is not for such people.

On the other hand, if a person has goals in all aspects of his life - in work, study, self-development, family, hobbies, if he strives to be the master of his time, and not go with its flow - such a person always has many daily tasks. And since he doesn’t want to lose sight of them, this matrix is ​​for him.

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​not a panacea for the eternal lack of time. It's more of a mini-tutorial on prioritization.

Don't be surprised if you find it difficult at first to sort things into quadrants. The moment you think and do it, you learn. And learning something valuable always involves some effort.

Don’t despair - after working with the table for several days in a row, you will acquire a skill that will turn into a skill. Subsequently, prioritization will become automatic.

So, let's summarize.

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​for people like you if:

• You constantly have to make choices about which task to take on first;
• You are ready to get to know yourself better, ready to honestly answer questions like “what is really important to me?”;
• You want to get as much done as possible - definitely more than you do now;
• You are ready to fight such a quality of yours as procrastination - chronic putting things off “for later”.

You may already be good at managing your time.

Read the statements below and ask yourself if they are true for you. If the vast majority of points do not suit you, it is advisable for you to master time management techniques.

• You always have a clear to-do list for the day;
• You respond to business emails in a timely manner;
• You don't take work home and almost never stay late after the end of the working day;
• You do not allow phone calls, visitors and social networks to significantly distract you from your main tasks;
• You don't do the work for your subordinates because you don't think that only you can do it really well;
• At the end of the day you feel almost as energized as at the beginning.

If all the previous points seem logical to you, then the last one may cause an incredulous smile: “You’re kidding! A squeezed lemon makes me feel more energetic than I do at the end of the working day.” Nevertheless there is a large number of people who not only do not get tired, but also feel a surge of strength. And there is no secret here.

We get tired not from the amount of work done, but from stupid, disordered actions, meaningless throwing and a feeling of helplessness in conditions of chronic time pressure.

Of course, sometimes we cannot foresee everything. And our coherent plan may be shaken due to suddenly switched off office equipment, a late client or a absentee employee. Leave this aside for now.

The first thing to work on is how not to be a source of chaos for yourself, and then you can think about the influence of external unforeseen circumstances.

1. Clean your desktop from documents that you no longer work with. If you don't need them very often, put them in the closet. If you don't need them at all, add them to the trash. In a heap of papers, you can hardly find that very sheet, searching for which you will spend long minutes, irritated by fruitless efforts. Please note that the desks of successful businessmen look as if no one is working at them: most of their surface is unoccupied.
2. Get yourself a diary and do not part with him. It is impossible to remember everything, and business people have long understood the need to write down everything - meeting dates, to-dos, questions to think about. Cell phones and laptops with their calendars are often used, but a paper diary will never become obsolete - if only because it cannot break or run out of charge.
3. Plan what's most important for your peak daily activity times. We are all human beings, and even the strongest members of our species are overcome by sleep. Resisting your biorhythms is a waste of time, you will still lose. What you do in an hour during the day, in the evening, with accumulated fatigue, will take you twice as long. Therefore, do not put off an urgent report until late in the evening, do not start important conversations before going to bed - both you and your partner will suffer from this approach.
4. Don't overload yourself. It's not just that your productivity will decrease. With a merciless rhythm, you will definitely “burn out”, and your body will take a rest without your consent, sending you to a hospital bed. This is where you will lose all your saved time.

Treat yourself like a thoroughbred horse - it is, of course, a strong animal, but which owner would risk driving it at a furious pace?

1. Don’t waste time on projects and affairs. Remember the famous phrase that the best is the enemy of the good? Do you feel like the more you test your project, the better it gets? It is very important here not to “overextend” the matter, otherwise you risk feeling chronic fatigue from the inability to achieve the ideal. Don't strive for perfection - these actions will waste your time.
2. Don't strive to be great at everything. It takes years to become an expert in any field. It's better to stand out in one thing than to be average in everything. The movie "Ocean's 11" talks about this. It is important to have a team where everyone is good at something, then you can easily delegate things.

Hello my dear reader. When you start planning, you may encounter a problem such as ignorance of the rules for highlighting important and urgent matters. The Eisenhower Matrix as a prioritization tool will be an excellent assistant in such an endeavor.

How does it work? What rules should you follow when using such a creation? Answers to these and other questions can be found in the presented review.

Planning is the basis of a successful person’s life

The life of any person goes on as usual, however, it is not easy for a modern inhabitant of the planet. “Have time to do it and don’t leave it for tomorrow...” is the motto of most people. Why is this happening? The thing is that most of us, following fashion trends, are forced to work long hours and set ourselves a lot of tasks. As a result of this, we are in constant tension. We are tormented by questions: “What to grab onto?”, “How to cope with this blockage?” Nervousness develops, gradually developing into apathy. And all because of what? No time management skills.

With improper planning, a snowball effect occurs when yesterday's unfulfilled obligations are transferred to today, but do not have time to be fulfilled due to lack of free time.

How to avoid this? The answer is obvious: learn to competently plan your activities regarding money. It’s not difficult to cope with this, just remember a few principles of time management and start applying them in practice:

• fix tasks;
• smash large tasks into smaller, feasible ones;
• approach planning consciously, consider all sorts of circumstances (if you are the mother of a small child, then you will not be able to plan your day second by second, since the baby requires special attention).

Regarding this point, we must not forget about our health, namely, include lunches in the schedule (not 15 minutes, as we are used to, but a full 60 minutes). It’s better that you have some free time left than you are in a hurry and afraid of not being on time for the next event or completing the next task.

• Constantly to practice. Why am I talking about this? Because for the first time you may not be able to fulfill all your plans and you may be disappointed in the performance of this system. To avoid this, do not load one day with more than 9 tasks (this could include important calls, trips to the store, etc.).

When distributing tasks, it is important not to overwhelm yourself with work, but to structure the day so that it turns out to be effective, and there is still time for family or self-development. By the way, this is one of the problems that people who start planning face.

Here's a sample of one person's first shot:

1. Tie up the jacket.
2. Write a review.
3. Prepare dinner.
4. Carry out general cleaning.
5. Take the cat to the veterinary clinic.

How many things do you think he managed to accomplish? Just two (dinner and a cat). What about 3 more? They stayed the next day. What is his mistake? He did not calculate the time, did not take into account the complexity, importance and urgency of the tasks. How then? How to choose an important thing? Remember this example and do not repeat such mistakes, and also, read on, because the most interesting things are there.

Setting priorities is half the battle

This is where a unique time management system tool comes to the rescue, named after its creator - the Eisenhower matrix. This tool is a graph made on a plane, in which importance and urgency are taken as the abscissa and ordinate axes. Looking at the matrix, you can see the Cartesian squares, which mean the following:

• unimportant and not urgent - waste square (viewing email, computer games, etc.);
• unimportant, but urgent - square of illusions ( phone call, unexpected visit of guests);
• important, but not urgent - square of potential (long-term goal is to build a house);
• important and urgent - result square (ambulance urgent Care, preparing a presentation for tomorrow’s performance).

Remember: those cases that are in the category “important, but not urgent” need to be completed in a timely manner, otherwise they will easily fall into the emergency category, and this happens at the most inopportune moment.

Now, so that you can set your priorities correctly, you will have to work hard (you need to analyze your state of affairs at this stage of life). To do this, take a sheet of paper and write down all the tasks and things that you have to do. Take your time, carefully write down everything, even little things like calling your mom, buying fish, etc.

If you have too many things to do in the “Result” section, it means that you are on the verge of exhaustion, nervousness is your second “I”. Ask friends, family and colleagues for help, motivate yourself, get rid of these “tails”, but do not forget about the square of potential.

When the job is done, you need to put the piece of paper aside and rest, at least five minutes, to give your brain a rest and not engage in stressful planning. After that, take a look at the entries and try categorize them. Done?

Now all you have to do is think through the day, and to do this, use the following tips:

1. When making a plan for the day, take breaks into account (do not deprive yourself of rest, otherwise the time management system will seem ineffective to you).
2. Determine your peak activity (for most of us this is the morning).
3. Place tasks from the result category at the time of peak activity, but they should not take up more than 60% of your time.
4. Leave 20% of your time for tasks in the categories of potential and illusions.
5. Approach tasks included in the embezzlement category only in free time. By the way, this advice will help you get rid of time wasters who so interfere with your development and doing what you love.
6. If the electronic version is convenient for you, then you can draw up your plan in Excel (having created the template once, you can adjust it constantly).
7. Don't waste yourself (do urgent tasks one at a time).
8. Be careful, try to be in the category of potential, visiting “Result” only occasionally, and then life will become much easier.

Additional useful tips you can get if you attend Sergei Vsekhsvyatsky’s training “School for Accelerating Personal Growth.” During the training, the author gives many real-life examples that allow you to understand the importance of planning, teaches you to separate important matters from urgent ones, etc.

Still have questions regarding the Eisenhower Matrix? Rather, ask them to me. How to do it? It's quite simple: fill out the comment form below the review and wait for my response.

I remind you that you can share the information received with your friends and acquaintances. To do this, just select the keys with the image of the social networks in which you have accounts and click on them. Believe me, your subscribers will be grateful for the opportunities provided.

With this I say goodbye to you. I'll be glad to see your comment. I hope to see you soon on the blog.

Best regards, Elena Izotova.

What is Dwight David's Eisenhower Matrix? How did the 34th President of the United States plan his time? What organizational principle allowed you to cope with a huge number of cases? I will tell you about all this now.

Time management is based on the principle of planning. And the main thing in planning is setting priorities - which things should be started first, and which ones should be completed later.

A very simple and incredibly effective technique was used by the 34th President of the United States, later it was named after his name - the Eisenhower Dwight David principle. Everyone understands that the president has a lot to do and the fate of millions of people depends on the correct planning of one person’s time.

What did President Eisenhower do?

That's how - he divided all tasks into important and urgent. To better understand the method, let's draw the Eisenhower Dwight David matrix by dividing the square into 4 equal parts. As a result, we will get 4 squares. Now let's sign each with the following names: Important, unimportant, urgent, not urgent.

The essence of the Eisenhower principle is that when setting priorities, you must complete all important and urgent tasks first. Then important and non-urgent. Next, unimportant urgent ones. And if there is time, then the last ones are unimportant and non-urgent.

For what?

What does the application of the Eisenhower principle give? Why draw a matrix? Why can't you do everything without any problems?

Probably everyone has faced a lack of time - when you want to do everything you planned, but it doesn’t work out, every day brings you surprises and you have to adjust your plans, giving up planned rest, new work opportunities, etc.

It is impossible to predict the unplanned, which means that, whether we like it or not, some plans have to be cancelled. But... What if we do the main tasks first, and leave the less important ones for later. Which ones wouldn’t be such a shame to give up? For example, let's spend time with family instead of meeting with a client who is unlikely to agree to cooperate.

This is the answer to the question: “why sort things.” We simply do the main thing, put aside the unimportant and become more successful and productive in life. After all, urgent does not mean important and vice versa.

1 square: Important and urgent

This includes urgent matters, failure to complete which may lead to negative consequences. We start all tasks from this section because these are the most significant tasks for us, and also urgent. This section includes: “Emergency operation”, “Unscheduled meetings”, “deadline for project delivery”.

The main thing is that this square should ideally be empty because most important tasks are not urgent at first and with proper planning they can be done before they become urgent. All tasks in this square appear for 2 reasons:

- depending on us (internal reasons), what we can influence and this is the largest share in most cases. For example: lack of professionalism, motivation, strength, etc. In general, we can remove this reason on our own;

- beyond our control (external reasons): When we cannot influence them, for example, force majeure, sudden pain, urgent request for help, etc. Ideally, with proper planning, only these reasons should fall into the important and urgent square.

In addition, we all understand that it is not always possible to allocate as much time as necessary for urgent matters. An example from life is passing exams; if you prepare on the last day, there may simply not be enough time to prepare physically. In addition, working in emergency mode is exhausting and worsens your mental and physical condition. Therefore, all important tasks should be completed before they become urgent, i.e. working with the square is important and not urgent.

2 square: Important and not urgent

Regular completion of all tasks from this square is an indicator of your success and productivity. This square includes things that can wait, but failure to do them will result in serious consequences. Negative consequences.

An important task differs from an unimportant one in that the consequences for failure to complete them are different.. The more important the task, the greater the negative consequences of failure to complete it. Therefore, we give preference to completing important tasks first and only then urgent ones.

Ideally, all important tasks, both urgent and non-urgent, should be completed in full. Among the tasks in this area, the following can be noted: tasks for personal development, health care, for example: consult a doctor in a timely manner and prevent illness, master basic skills in English for promotion at work, etc., as a rule, These are key tasks that can make a big difference in your life..

We all understand that in most cases it is impossible to manage everything planned. If only because unforeseen circumstances arise that make serious adjustments to plans. Considering this fact, it is better to do important tasks on which your life greatly depends than unimportant tasks. This is why it is so important to sort tasks according to the Eisenhower Rule.

When we distribute tasks correctly and start working with the most important ones, there are fewer rush jobs, i.e. we manage to get things done before they become urgent. And this is very important, because when there is not always enough time for urgent matters, they turn out unfinished and we put our nerves to the test, trying to meet the deadline. At the same time, when working regularly with a square, it is important and not urgent that you can devote to each task exactly as much time as it requires, as a result, the number of rush jobs and stressful situations will decrease, and the quality of work will increase. By analogy from ordinary life, it is better to prevent a disease in a timely manner than to start it and end up experiencing severe pain and serious consequences in the future.

3 square: No matter, urgent

Urgent does not mean important; it is better not to do many urgent things if they cause you to miss important things. To correctly understand which task is more important, simply ask the question: “What will happen if this is not done.” If the negative consequences are minimal, then the matter is unimportant and should be started after completing more significant tasks; if not completed, there will be more serious negative consequences. Unimportant tasks include the following: a colleague called and asked for help with an unimportant task, you are offered participation in social networks. survey or just an acquaintance came in to chat about life.

Minus of urgent matters is that they interfere with working effectively, because you:

Forced to be interrupted from important tasks;

Against the backdrop of urgency, you begin to worry, and emotions prevent you from making the right decisions.

For example, you are working on a large project on which your career growth and the company’s income depend, and at that moment your colleagues call you and ask you to urgently call, print, send a document by mail, etc. Of course, you need to help your colleagues, but everything has its time. Important things need to be done first, and unimportant things later, even if they are urgent. Just tell your colleagues that you are busy now, and when you finish working on an important matter, call them back.

If you try to keep up with all the urgent matters, then life can turn into constant time pressure, and because of the turmoil, you will worry more and will be able to devote less time to important tasks that greatly affect your life.

4 square is unimportant and not urgent

This is the very last to-do list that you should start with, because it includes the most unnecessary tasks.

But even the most unnecessary things can also be divided into 2 parts:

1. Little things in life, such things still have value, but only if you have completed all the other more important tasks from the 3 squares. What is the value? For example, dismantling a blockage on the mezzanine seems like a small thing, but it’s nice, or changing a leaking faucet in the kitchen, strengthening the table so it doesn’t wobble. In general, this kind of task creates your comfort and improves your mood, so you should try to get to square 4 in order to live more harmoniously and fully.

But if you deal with these little things before the more important tasks from the past 3 squares are done, then this will not bring proper satisfaction.

2. Bullshit classes. Computer games, social networks, watching TV, alcohol - all this only takes up precious time. Many will say, but it helps to relax, doesn’t it? Yes, undoubtedly, any bullshit activity relaxes, but not as well as a healthy rest. A computer or TV cannot convey such strong emotions, tactile feelings, smells and other sensations as in real life. Since the computer and TV use fewer senses, the rate of recovery, i.e., rest, is reduced. Alcohol is also an ineffective way to relax, because in addition to the negative impact on health, after such a rest, in quotes, it’s a letdown, headache and other troubles.

Well, that's all bad habits- this is a waste of time and should be abandoned completely, but this is an ideal case. In reality, every person will have bad habits, because fighting them takes time, so we put all this bullshit like computer games, TV, alcohol, etc. in the unimportant and not urgent square at the very bottom of the to-do list.

Practice of using the Eisenhower matrix by Dwight David

Let's draw 4 squares of Eisenhower, label each square with letters:

A. Important and urgent (red);

B. Important and not urgent (green);

IN. Unimportant and urgent (blue);

G. Not important and not urgent (white).

We begin to complete all tasks in alphabetical order, i.e. first the tasks of point “A”, then “B”, “C” and at the end “D”. Until we complete the tasks of square “A”, we will not proceed to “B”. Then, until we do point “B”, we don’t start tasks from “C”, etc. In general, we work sequentially step by step, without changing the order.

Now let’s get practical, let’s say we have the following list of incoming cases:

Now let’s sort the list of incoming tasks and put next to each item the letter of the square to which this task can be attributed.

Now you know where to start in order to get the most important things done. Just do things from square “A” first, then “B”, then “C” and “D”, if there is time.

It is important to assess the degree of importance not in the mind, but on a piece of paper, because when there are more than 7+-2 things to do, the prioritization may be wrong, since our brain is not designed for such operations in the mind. We can store about 7+-2 things in memory, the rest is forgotten. Tasks written on a piece of paper are much easier and faster, and most importantly, can be sorted more accurately, so don’t waste time on notes.

You can also rewrite the list in squares for clarity, especially as soon as you start using the Eisenhower method, but this is not necessary.

As you already understand, the essence of working with the Eisenhower principle: division of tasks and concentration on the first two squares.

Working in accordance with the Eisenhower principle will help reduce the number of rush jobs at work and you will become more accomplished.

P.S. If you have difficulties or questions about the article you read, as well as about the topics: Psychology (bad habits, experiences, etc.), sales, business, time management, etc. ask them to me, I will try to help. Consultation via Skype is also possible.

P.P.S. You can also take the online training “How to get 1 hour of extra time.” Write comments and your additions;)

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