Time Management At Work: Using the Eisenhower Principle to Manage Pressure

Dwight D Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States, and was a supreme commander of the allied forces during World War II – the definition of a man without enough time on his hands.

• Important

  Tasks that require immediate attention and are time sensitive. We tend to focus of these kinds of problems because they have immediate consequences.

• Urgent

  Tasks that lead to us being able to achieve our own goals or needs

What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is
seldom important.

• Important and Urgent
• Important but not Urgent
• Not Important but Urgent
• Not Important and not Urgent

• Important and Urgent

  This is the first quadrant, and is sometimes called the “do it” quadrant. In other words, no matter how good your time management skills, these are problems that need immediate attention. Ideally, once you’re more adept at task management, you won’t have any tasks that are both important and urgent, because you’ll have sorted them out before they get to that point. However, there are always unforeseen circumstances that mean your Eisenhower matrix may have something in this important and urgent quadrant.

• Urgent

  These are the tasks that you want to get done early, because otherwise they’ll eventually become important and urgent, sometimes known by time managers as “decide” tasks, as you need to decide on a time in the near future to complete them. They also don’t always take much time to complete, because things that fall into the second quadrant are generally there to help you achieve or discover professional goals or personal goals, where a little bit of work goes a long way. It might be going to a networking event, updating social media like LinkedIn or even doing a self care act like getting a massage.

• Not Important but Urgent

  These are jobs that are going to prevent you from achieving your goals, and this third quadrant is sometimes known as the delegate quadrant, because ideally you can either reschedule or delegate these tasks. It might mean saying no to people or just recognising your own limits so that you have enough time to deal with other more important tasks.

• Not Important and not Urgent

  This last quadrant is sometimes known as the “delete” section of the eisenhower box, because ideally you can ignore or cancel these. Again, making tough decisions in regards to saying no is important here, so that you can focus on fewer things.