The Urgent-Important Matrix (remastered version) to prioritize your projects and be more productive.

This article was originally published on the Dare to Learn page.

Puedes leer este artículo en espa?ol aquí.

Never bring me a sealed envelope.

Dwight Eisenhower?(Former US President from 1953 to 1961) was one of the most productive persons in the world ever.

In 1953, a few hours before he assumed the presidency and enter for the first time into the White House, an executive employee entered his office and give him two envelopes marked as “confidential” that arrived earlier.

Eisenhower′s answer was:

“Never lend me a closed envelope. That’s why I have someone who read them for me”.

Seems rude but he has a point:

If he has to do everything, then no one will do anything.

His priority was to transform the people in his office into a highly productive and results-oriented team. He cleared that his job was to take only the most important decisions.

I′m not pretending to describe his life in this article (I'm pretty sure he was a very productive person), but to show you a super-effective tool that was invented by himself to prioritize his activities and projects:

The Urgent-Important Matrix -aka the Eisenhower Matrix-.

The Urgent-Important Matrix: Eisenhower′s version.

This four-quadrant matrix gives you four chances to attend any task or work:

1. Urgent and Important (do it immediately).

2. Important but not Urgent (define a date and time to do it).

3. Urgent but not Important (consider delegating).

4. Not Urgent and not Important (don’t waste your time on it).

The Urgent-Important Matrix: Dare to Learn version.

After using this tool for several years, I realized that I struggled every time I used it:

How do I know how urgent is a task or a project? Is the same the urge for something that needs to be done today that for something that needs to happen next week?

It depends if you use the matrix on a monthly basis, maybe something that needs to be done next week effectively seems to be urgent. But if you use it daily, something that needs to happen in a week doesn′t seem to be that urgent.

I realized that I need to be flexible in taking decisions about what′s urgent and what′s not, and not being mind closed by only choosing urgent or not urgent.

That′s why I decided to modify Eisenhower′s Matrix and incorporated a time scale to make it easier to choose the urge level for each task.

Note:?to get a fillable format of our matrix, send us an e-mail to [email protected] with “Urgent-Important Matrix” as subject.

How to use this matrix?

First of all, decide the time scale you want to use: Daily or Weekly to prioritize tasks, Monthly to prioritize projects… or both.

Once you have this clear, just need to assign some analysis & reflection time once in a while so you can enlist the tasks or projects you want to insert into the matrix.

To help you to do this, I prepared a guideline with some prioritization criteria so you can use this tool ASAP.

Personal advice: Don′t get into the trap of trying to prioritize everything at the moment. Program analysis and reflection moments to evaluate very consciously the priority level of the task.

Prioritization Criteria.

Urgent and Important.

In the short term:?Tasks that you have to do RIGHT NOW. For example, when you have a meeting in a few hours and you haven′t the presentation ready yet.

Son tareas que tienes que hacer YA en este momento.?Por ejemplo, tienes una reunión en un par de horas y aún no has terminado la presentación.

In the long term:?These are the projects that need your attention urgently. Doesn't mean that you have to finish tomorrow, but you need to act with the urge to finish them as sooner as possible (typically in a?couple of weeks). For example, setting the documentation for an important certification.

Important, but not Urgent.

In the short term:?Tasks that are important but can wait. Though you don′t have to put into it right now, you have to schedule it within a specific date and time to do it. If you don′t do this, this task will end in the Urgent and Important quadrant in a blink. For example, buy your flight ticket for a work trip and packing

In the long term:?Important projects that don′t need to be done right now, but will require a lot of planning and previous hard work. Set a deadline and mark some moments on your schedule to keep going progressively in this kind of project. For example, the planning of an annual event or presenting a thesis.

Urgent, but not Important.

In the short term:?Things that must be done, but not necessarily by yourself. When you seem to be in front of one of these activities ask yourself if there's somebody that can and/or must do this besides you. For example, taking care of a provider that sowed without announcing.

In the long term:?Projects that may not require your participation. In this case, try to negotiate your participation or delegate it to someone who can do the things in the same way you can or even better for the project. For example, when you are invited to a committee where you don′t have a lot to put on the table.

Not Urgent nor Important.

These activities or tasks or projects are just a waste of your time. There are filling your mind -and your calendar- but they are not important, and much less urgent. These are the kind of things you must say NO to and delete from your to-do list and your calendar. For example, a social event that you are thinking to attend just to not look bad.

As you can see, it′s very simple and very useful to empty your schedule, your mind, and your priorities if you say no to the things in this quadrant.

Prioritize: the key to productivity.

The mental image of Eisenhower is of a man playing golf.

He used to play a lot and not because de wasn′t worried about things, but because de used to accomplish them.

Eisenhower enjoyed his free time because he always was in control of his time and his priorities: he knew that urgent it′s not the same as important.

His work was to define priorities, think about the strategy, and habilitate his team to do the jobs they were hired for.

I know that you may not be the president of your country, maybe you are not even the president of a company, but in any case, we can enjoy the benefits of a more organized life with clear priorities and mental peace that make us feel in control of our time and our priorities.

Please tell me how′s it going practicing with this highly valuable productivity tool.

Remember, to get a fillable format of our matrix, send us an e-mail to [email protected] with “Urgent-Important Matrix” as subject.

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Diego Lainez?is CEO and founder of Dare to Learn, a corporate learning consulting company that helps organizations to potentiate their talent through memorable learning strategies and experiences.

Time Ownership?is an initiative that pursues giving back people control over their time and raising their productivity.

It′s also an online course and an on-live/remote learning experience that reinvents the way that individuals, leaders, and organizations reach their goals by being highly productive in the right things.

To learn more about this or about other workshops for your organization, visit our website or write to us and we will contact you.?