Hello my dear reader. When planning, you may encounter such a problem as not knowing the rules for highlighting important and urgent cases. The Eisenhower matrix as a prioritization tool will be a great help in such an endeavor.

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

Planning is the basis of a successful person's life

Anyone's life man goes in due course, however, modern resident the planet is not easy. “Have time to do it and not 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 a lot of time, set ourselves a bunch of tasks. As a result, we are in constant voltage. 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.

At wrong planning there is a snowball effect 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 it? The answer is obvious: to learn how to properly plan your activities in relation to money. Coping with this is not difficult, just remember a few time management principles and start putting them into practice:

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

As for this item, 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). Better to have some free time than to be in a hurry and afraid to miss the next event or complete the next task.

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

At the time of the distribution of cases, it is important not to overwhelm yourself with work, but to make 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 face when they start planning.

Here is a sample of one person's first plan:

1. Tie a sweater.
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 do? Only two (dinner and a cat). But 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 to be? How to choose an important business? Remember this example and do not repeat such mistakes, and also, read on, because there is the most interesting.

Prioritization is half the battle

Here comes to the rescue unique instrument time management system, 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:

• not important and not urgent - waste square (view Email, computer games etc.);
• it doesn’t matter, but urgently - a square of illusions (a phone call, an unexpected visit from guests);
• important, but not urgent - the square of potential (long-term goal is to build a house);
• important and urgent - the square of the result (ambulance urgent care, making a presentation for tomorrow's speech).

Remember: those cases that are in the category "important but not urgent" must be done in a timely manner, otherwise, they will easily be transferred to the category of emergency work, and this happens at the most inopportune moment.

Now, so that you can correctly prioritize, you will have to work hard (you need to analyze your state of affairs in this life stage). To do this, take a piece of paper and write down all the tasks that you have to complete. Take your time, carefully write down everything, even the little things, such as calling your mother, buying fish, etc.

If you have too many things to do in the “Result” section, then you are on the verge of exhaustion, nervousness is your second “I”. Ask for help from friends, relatives and colleagues, 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 paper aside and rest, at least five minutes, to give the brain a rest and not engage in planning in a stressful state. After that take a look at the records and try categorize them. Done?

Now it remains to think over the day, and for this use the following tips:

1. When planning 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 the peak of your activity (for most of us this morning).
3. Put tasks from the result category at the peak of activity, but they should not take up more than 60% of your time.
4. Leave 20% of the time for tasks from the categories of potential and illusions.
5. For tasks listed in the category of waste, approach only in free time. By the way, this advice will help you get rid of time wasters, which interfere so much with developing and doing what you love.
6. If you are comfortable electronic variant, then you can draw up your plan in excel (creating a template once, you can adjust it constantly).
7. Do not waste yourself (do urgent things one by one).
8. Be careful, try to be in the category of potential, only occasionally visiting the "Result" and then life will become much easier.

Additional helpful tips you can get if you attend the training of Sergei Vsekhsvyatsky "School of acceleration personal growth". During the training, the author gives a lot life examples, allowing you to understand the importance of planning, teaches you to separate important things from urgent ones, etc.

Still have questions about the Eisenhower Matrix? Rather ask them to me. How to do it? It's pretty 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 those social networks in which you have accounts, and click on them. Believe me, your subscribers will be grateful for the opportunities provided.

On this I say goodbye to you. I would be glad to see your comment. Hope to see you soon on the blog.

Sincerely, Elena Izotova.

Everyone talks about the benefits of time management as a way to save money. own time. In fact, it turns out that you spend more time on a notebook with plans, searching for the right page, as well as analyzing mixed cases, ideas, and considerations.

Today we’ll talk about the planning method that helped the 34th President of the United States to take his own position, which means it will make life easier for a woman. So, the Eisenhower matrix - what it is, how it is used, where and by whom it is used, we will learn from this article.

Significance and effectiveness

This method of planning is distinguished by the use of precisely set goals for oneself. You know what you are going to in life, what are the zeal of the soul, and also what you want to achieve in the near future. The belonging of cases to the achievement of the goal determines the criterion for finding a place for them in the matrix - importance. What will help you become what you want is important, the rest is not.

The second criterion for describing the cases on which the matrix works is urgency. What needs to be done immediately or as soon as possible is urgent, and what can wait is not urgent.

The meaning of the matrix is ​​based on what helps to visually see the list of work that leads you to the goal, as well as those that bring nothing to progress. Thus, you can not only evaluate own work about efficiency, as well as develop a clear plan to increase this efficiency.

Now let's talk about meaning. The Eisenhower matrix helps a person move towards their goals. If you follow it, strictly adhere to the principles of work, then desired achievements soon looming on the horizon, and the actions for the rest of the way will be clearly predetermined. You know what to do, which means that there is every chance to reach the top in as soon as possible.

The essence of the method

I understand that not everyone has already come across this concept, and therefore, immediately after the laudatory odes, I will explain what it is.

Eisenhower Matrix- This is a method of planning your own time, which is based on placing a to-do list in a list of a special structure.

In the list itself, make absolutely any business, you just need to understand the degree of their importance and urgency. Use the method as a prioritization tool that will allow you to achieve results for yourself in a short time.

The to-do list is structured as a square with four segments. Each segment is assigned to cases and tasks, in accordance with the importance and urgency.

The way of organizing personal time is suitable for short-term planning. For example, one or two days. Everyone can use it: future businessmen, current housewives, students and hired workers. This is a universal technique. Again, it is important to decide own goals.

I will immediately give recommendations on doing things in this way. In the current world, a lot of applications have been developed based on the Eisenhower matrix for smartphones, laptops, tablets, which will get rid of the use of a notepad. Also, it is convenient to maintain such tables in Excel. No one forbids supporters of the old paper method to keep their own diary or just make notes on the leaves, the main thing is to be comfortable.

How to use the method correctly

In order for the technique to work for you, and for personal progress to be noticeable, it is worth keeping records correctly. If everything is done properly, with the idea of ​​the matrix developer, then a person will quickly notice their own organization, as well as the appearance of free time.

I explain in detail, with examples, according to the principle of increasing importance of information:

• The fourth segment, dedicated to unimportant and non-urgent matters, is filled in for the sake of appearance. This includes watching the news feed on social networks, the “necessity” to call a girlfriend or aunt from Krasnoyarsk, reading a soap opera, and watching TV shows. These are the things that have neither urgency nor importance for personal or professional development, that is, time wasters. There is no benefit to doing them.
• The third segment consists of unimportant urgent matters. These are assignments to you from another person, sudden meetings. For example, a friend asked me to take my jeans to the dry cleaners. A matter that directly affects your personal and Professional Development does not affect in any way, but still requires attention and time, and within a certain period of time.
• Second segment. Important matters that do not have urgency are brought here. For the implementation of which, it is worth having a margin of time. They acquire importance because they influence the development and achievement of goals, but fortunately they are not limited in time. These are the tasks that should be performed measuredly and calmly, with maximum return, which means that in the future they will bear fruit in the form of your progress towards your goal. The implementation of the list from this sector is a priority for you. This includes professional tasks, measures for personal development, as well as to maintain own health.
• First segment. Important urgent matters. In fact, these are the tasks that should be in the second segment, but the execution was delayed, leaving the work for last moment when the deadline is already "on the nose". Now you will be forced to work in emergency mode, and you also risk “screwing up”. For example, the work will be sent for revision. The matrix in which this segment is empty is considered ideally working. This indicates the ability of a person to competently manage his own time.

Real world application

I think that theoretically everything is clear, but this is the point, which is only theoretical. I am sure that it is vague for young mothers who want to combine a career with raising a child to include in this plate cooking for a week, washing, working at home or receiving additional education. Therefore, the use of the matrix is ​​dedicated to one purpose. Choose a goal, and then build the time so that you reach it as quickly as possible.

In life modern woman it turns out that you want to be a good mother, wife, and also succeed in career growth. In this case, it is better to use the matrix for planning for one day, and most importantly, remember that all actions that lead to the goal are necessarily important. And it does not matter that they may not correspond to each other in terms of semantic content. So, the need to be present at the first performance of the child will be important urgent matter, and the quarterly report is important, but not so urgent. By at least, specifically for this day.

The matrix exercise helps you navigate through life and determine the importance of goals and objectives for yourself. In such a case, the principles of importance and urgency will be abstract.

For example, my three-month goals are to learn how to skate, get a refresher course, pass my driving test, find new job update my husband's wardrobe.

How to place them:

1. Get a driver's license, undergo advanced training - because this will expand the horizons for finding a new job;
2. Find a new job;

1. Updating my husband's wardrobe is of course important to me. But it will not affect my development in any way;
2. Learning to skate is nice, but hardly useful in life.

Girls, set goals for yourself and stick to them with the help of the Eisenhower Matrix. After all, goals give meaning to our lives.

• Creator of the Eisenhower method
• Principle of the Eisenhower Method
• • A (important and urgent)
  • B (important but not urgent)
  • C (urgent but not important)
  • D (not urgent and not important)
• Eisenhower matrix: an example
• Conclusion

Every day we overcome a mountain of tasks, but not always such workload helps to move forward. Sometimes we waste a lot of time on empty activities, while important work waiting behind the planning.

Eisenhower square- a tool for assigning cases by importance and urgency. It helps to understand what work needs to be done right now, what to postpone until later, and what to discard altogether.

The Eisenhower method is designed to avoid these mistakes, it structures the work and reveals "time wasters" like an x-ray.

Creator of the Eisenhower method

This time management tool was given to us not by anyone, but by US President Dwight David Eisenhower himself, who ruled the States from 1953 to 1961. He led US troops in Europe during World War II. Freed during Norman operation France, Dwight Eisenhower returned home a hero and was appointed Commander in Chief of the US Army. This outstanding person stood at the origins of NATO and was one of the two most beloved presidents of Americans, sharing their hearts with George Washington. After retiring, he did not sit idly by, but worked as the rector of Columbia University.

As you understand, Eisenhower had a lot of work. Born into a poor family, he managed to build such dizzying career thanks to competent prioritization and discipline. Such a person will not advise bad - his time management technique has been tested in practice, and the personality of the inventor can already be considered the best recommendation.

Principle of the Eisenhower Method

The Eisenhower matrix consists of two coordinate axes - importance and urgency. At their intersection, four fields are formed:

• important and urgent
• important but not urgent
• urgent but not important
• unimportant and non-urgent

Having defined each case in its own field, we already have an algorithm further work over each of them.

Eisenhower table - visual assistant

The human brain is designed in such a way that we better understand structured information - sorted into shelves, cells, and accompanied by visual materials. Therefore, the square of priorities is best drawn on paper or in tables on a computer.

As you can see, all fields are colored in different colors. This is not an aesthetic whim of the artist - this is how we noted their importance in the global planning of work. When you start working with the table, these cells will contain specific cases.

What to do first and what not to do at all?

Priority Matrixanswers these questions clearly and concisely. Each field of the Eisenhower table has its own “verdict”. As soon as the task is in one or another cell, we already know what to do with it.

A (important and urgent)

This field is colored red because ideal it must remain empty. When tasks appear in it, it means that you planned something incorrectly, spent time on unnecessary things.

Of course, the ideal cannot be achieved, so points will still appear in this square. If this has already happened, then here is what should be entered in field A:

• overcoming crises;
• work that, if not done, could result in serious problems and disruption of goals;
• resolving issues that can lead to a deterioration in the standard of living, a threat to a career or well-being in the family;
• health problems.

If, when you first compiled the table, it turned out that there are a lot of points in the red cell, you need to throw all your efforts into cleaning it. If the task is difficult, consider involving relatives, friends, or delegating something to subordinates to complete it.

B (important but not urgent)

The main activity should take place in this field, so it is colored in green color action and growth. Everything that helps a person achieve goals and improve his life should be done in without fail and without haste.

This is not so easy to achieve, since we are all human students and are used to getting down to business only when a deadline looms on the horizon. But this is where lies main secret success: do all the important things in advance. This will help you work with pleasure and concentration, and not in a state of fright and fuss.

Here are the tasks:

• performance current projects for work;
• household chores related to material base your family;
• preparation for important family holidays, communication with relatives;
• self-education;
• disease prevention, sport, healthy lifestyle life.

You need to do these things yourself, attracting assistants in the case when there is a lot of work and it is unrealistic to do it yourself.

C (urgent but not important)

The two bottom fields are colored in gray colors- after all, they are not important, and they can simply be ignored, like a mouse. But just they become a serious obstacle that hinders our development.

Urgent but unimportant matters include:

• some calls and meetings;
• sudden household troubles;
• gestures of politeness towards people who are not included in the circle of relatives and friends (presence at holidays, long conversations);
• requests from acquaintances in solving problems that they can deal with on their own.

If you do not work out this point, then you can find yourself in a vicious circle of constant raking in unimportant cases that are of minimal benefit. Tasks from this square can be ignored or delegated to other people to free up time for the main work.

The main thing is not to confuse the cases from points A and C. So you can take some nonsense for important task or vice versa - refuse to decide critical questions sending them to point C.

D (not urgent and not important)

Time eaters "live" in this dark gray square, which it is desirable to eliminate from life altogether. Settled here:

• series and social networks;
• harmful entertainment;
• chatting on the phone;
• communicating with toxic people;
• actions that promote procrastination;
• some routine work;
• perfectionist quirks.

Most of these items need to be removed from the schedule by willpower - that's why this item is prescribed. It also includes routine work, the implementation of which has very little benefit. You can do it - and you can not do it. If desired, delegate this work to subordinates or employees. Or grandmother.

How to properly distribute tasks in the table?

Indeed, there is a high probability of assigning a case not the same level of importance and urgency. It is from this, in fact, that our hierarchy of priorities suffers.

In order not to be mistaken, we must simply answer two questions “yes” or “no”:

1. Is this work necessary to move towards the main goals? (Will I get in trouble if I don't?) YES - important, NO - not important.
2. If I don't do it now, will this task become irrelevant tomorrow? YES - urgent, NO - not urgent.

Having thus distributed the work according to the table, we first of all proceed to solving questions from the red square, and then from the green one.

Eisenhower matrix: an example

It is better to make a matrix in the morning. Remember all the things that you were going to do in the near future, what your friends asked you to do, what tasks your boss gave you, what you wanted to do for yourself. Write these things down on a piece of paper one after the other.

Now think about each of them, give answers to questions about importance and urgency. Depending on how you answered the questions, put the task in the appropriate cell. Remember even the smallest things - they take away a lot of our time. The number of points in each cell is determined only by you. There may be 20 or zero.

Your matrix might look like this:

When things are distributed, make a convenient list for yourself (for example, on your phone) of tasks from the red square so that you can constantly check with it. Separate - for tasks from the green square. Having completed all the points from the first, immediately take on the second, setting yourself the task of keeping the red square as free as possible.

Ignore tasks from gray squares or delegate them to those to whom they may be important or interesting. For example, a social media post about the first snow is of no use unless it is about your project. But it can become part of the advertising content - in this case, it is better to entrust it to the SMM department by linking information about the promotion.

Conclusion

The Eisenhower Matrix is, in a sense, a machine for clearing your day of the garbage of unimportant things. At first, you need to draw it every day, but over time, you will intuitively feel the “color” of this or that business. No matter how influential Eisenhower was, he could not buy himself extra hours in the day. And here allocate time efficiently even a student can do it.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

The first thing you need to learn in working with the matrix is ​​competently in business. Be able to distinguish the important from the urgent, not very urgent from the unimportant.

The time matrix is ​​divided into 4 quadrants, in which there are 2 axes of importance and the same number of axes of urgency. Cases and tasks fit into each of them, which helps to visually see the priority of each component: what to do first, what to do second, etc.

The matrix template looks like this:

Let's look at each quadrant in more detail.

Important and urgent

Ideal time management means that this quadrant will be empty. This is due to the fact that with proper prioritization and timely completion of cases, there will simply be no blockage. This may be normal only from time to time, but constant chaos in business is a sign of disorganization.

To avoid problems with the A quadrant, you need to organize competent planning in other areas and follow all the points exactly. However, if the need to fill it out nevertheless arises, then it fits here:

• Cases, the failure of which jeopardizes the achievement of the goal.
• Tasks, the failure of which contributes to the emergence life difficulties and difficulties.
• Tasks that are directly related to health.

Don't forget about. It often happens that things from the A quadrant can be entrusted to another person. If possible, use this right.

Don't forget about delegating responsibilities. It often happens that things from the A quadrant can be entrusted to another person.

Important but not urgent

The most priority cases and tasks are located here, so he needs to pay maximum attention. These are everyday activities, the urgency of which is not so high, but they are still important. Experts have noticed that people who work specifically with the “B” quadrant achieve greater success in life and achieve their goals. They earn more money and doing what they love, which makes them happy.

Since there is no urgency in cases, there is no panic, which makes the approach to their implementation balanced and reasonable. This in turn contributes high efficiency and productivity. However, do not forget that late completion of tasks from the B quadrant moves them to the A quadrant.

So, all current activities that are related to daily chores: main activity, sports activities, plans for the day, etc.

Urgent but not important

The activities that “underlie” this quadrant tend to be distractions. Their implementation does not carry any utility in terms of achieving goals and does not lead to any results. Often they only interfere with focusing on truly important matters and reduce overall efficiency. When working with the matrix, the main thing is not to confuse the cases from the "A" and "C" quadrants, otherwise there will be confusion in the priority of cases.

Area "C" can include matters related to negotiations and meetings that are imposed by someone, with the celebration of birthdays of people not in a very close circle, household chores that arise suddenly. Since the things from this quadrant only slow down and “steal” time, they need to be given a minimum of time.

Not urgent and not important

There is absolutely no benefit to doing things that fit in this quadrant. They need to be dealt with last. Even if you do not deal with them at all, it will only get better. However, it is necessary to take into account such cases, as they say, you need to know the enemy by sight. These are the most “devourers” of useful time that you should get rid of.

Things that fit in the D quadrant are of absolutely no use.

But the most interesting thing is that the cases from this quadrant are very attractive to people. Here is the most pleasant and simple, over which you do not need to work. They relax and bring pleasure. A pleasant pastime makes it problematic to refuse them.

This includes talking on the phone with friends and relatives, sitting in social networks, Internet surfing, computer games, watching TV, hanging out in clubs.

Of course, rest productive work important, like oxygen for a person, but it should also be useful. Instead of sitting on the couch for the whole weekend, arrange outings and trips to nature, develop an active recreation plan, this, by the way, will help improve your health. Read informative or just interesting book for which there was no time before, it will spur the mind.

As you take control of your life, remember that rest must also be planned. It is unacceptable for it to be spontaneous. But don't neglect them either. This is fraught with protracted idleness, since overwork has not yet benefited anyone. Here the rule is appropriate: "Time for business - hour for fun."

An example schedule for each day might look like this:

You can draw the sheets yourself or download ready-made forms from the Internet.

Prioritization

At first, out of habit, it will be problematic to determine the urgency and importance of each case, but the end result is worth it. Try the following exercise:

1. Draw a table with columns: No. p / p, business, urgency, importance. Adjust the number of lines yourself, depending on the length of the list.
2. In the second column, "to do," write down all the tasks and activities that you usually do.
3. After that, move on to assessing how important each activity is or how urgent it is.

To make this easier, use the following importance criteria when asking questions for each case:

• Completing this task is necessary to achieve my key goal (Yes means important; No means not important).
• Failure to complete the task entails serious consequences for current activities (Yes - important; No - not important).

Urgency Criteria:

• If the task is not completed now, then it loses its relevance (Yes - urgent; No - non-urgent).

This prioritization tool will greatly simplify the entire workflow. As you go through this exploration, you will discover how much time you have been wasting up to this point and how much useful time appears to be freed up.

To achieve success in any business, you must, firstly, outline a clear plan of action for yourself, and secondly, strictly follow it. However, it often happens that, having compiled a to-do list, a person begins to endlessly put them off, being distracted by something insignificant or simply too lazy to get down to work. Often people make the mistake of choosing the wrong priorities and order of tasks.

As a result of incorrect and inefficient planning, cases accumulate, and their urgent execution subsequently takes away great amount time and effort. In this way, several days can be easily erased from life and filled with only tiresome emergency activities. stress and Bad mood- this is what a person receives as a result of endless delays, the culprit of which is himself. And then he begins to fear this routine even more and falls into a vicious circle.

The Eisenhower matrix, or, as it is often called, the Eisenhower priority matrix, can come to the rescue in such a situation. This is one of the simplest and effective ways organization of working time, which is based on only two parameters - importance and urgency.

This way of distributing cases is named after the 34th President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower. He was no doubt very busy man, and that is why he developed a unique method of allocating time and scheduling tasks.

What is the Eisenhower Matrix

The main idea is to quickly and efficiently rank cases according to their importance and urgency. Evaluating them according to these two parameters, you can highlight the priority ones and filter out the completely unimportant ones.

The Eisenhower case matrix was divided into 4 groups:

• Urgent and important.
• Not urgent, but important.
• Not important, but urgent.
• Not important and not urgent.

According to american president, all tasks without exception can be divided into these four categories, it is only important to be able to critically assess their significance for the future of a person.

Now let's look at each category in more detail.

Important and urgent matters

Eisenhower called them "matters of life and death." Tasks that must be completed within a day that can significantly affect your later life and career.

Examples: resolving crises or sudden problems, urgent tasks, projects with close deadlines.

If a lot of things fell into this section, it means that you do not manage your time well enough and distribute your forces incorrectly. Ideally, this square should be empty.

If a lot of important cases at the same time require prompt consideration, then you live from emergency to emergency, and you just need the Eisenhower matrix as good example correct distribution strength and time. The habit of putting off work until the last minute indicates a low level of self-discipline and can subsequently lead to big problems in a career. In addition, being in perpetual stress from what has already happened or just an impending emergency has a detrimental effect on your health.

Important but not urgent

This is your potential. Cases that have big influence for the future, but not requiring an emergency decision. Eisenhower was sure that this category should be the most important of the four. Assigning a specific task to this item and its systematic implementation will provide enough time for thoughtful and high-quality execution.

The ability to select from the to-do list those that should be in this category is one of the most important tasks that the Eisenhower matrix performs. An example of such cases is the evaluation of the results obtained, the development of new projects, the definition of development prospects, and the establishment of relations.

Very often people put off just such things, but this cannot be done in any way, since they are the guarantee life success. In order to avoid temptation, it is very useful to set deadlines for their implementation.

Not important but urgent matters

Things that take a lot of time, but, in fact, have no value for further development. In this category, the president placed tasks that distract attention and interfere with effective activity.

An example would be unimportant phone calls at work, daily meetings, consideration of urgent materials, business meetings.

Most people spend the lion's share of their time doing things like this. They need to be resolved immediately. This will free up enough time for more serious tasks.

Not urgent and not important things

They are of no importance for the future. These are things that distract from the main work. They are usually very pleasant, but completely useless. Eisenhower himself called them "time wasters" and considered them detrimental to an efficient workflow.

Examples: personal phone calls and letters, social networks, computer games, endless snacks and tea breaks.

These things can be safely crossed off the list, and deal with them only when you really have free time.

How to work with the matrix

Here are a few simple rules that will help to own experience evaluate how effective the Eisenhower matrix is. The principle of the method is extremely simple.

For clarity, take a sheet of paper and write a list of all the things that you have to do for some certain interval time - day, week or month. Rate them carefully in order of importance and urgency.

Divide another sheet of paper into four parts: in the first square there will be important and urgent matters, in the second - important but not urgent, and so on. Write down all the tasks in this sheet, distributing them into squares. What you see in front of you - own matrix Eisenhower.

It is easy to understand that you need to distribute your time mainly between important things, that is, between the first two squares. Those tasks that fall into the third and fourth quadrants can be completed after completing more important ones.

When solving a problem, it is very important not to be distracted from the case for snacks, smoke breaks and checking mail. Finish the task, and then you can reward yourself with something nice.

The Eisenhower matrix is ​​also suitable for long-term planning. For this, it is also important to main task and paint in squares all the things that will contribute to its achievement.

Despite the fact that the method is already more than half a century old, it has not lost its effectiveness. The Eisenhower matrix has been successfully used by many successful people. It is one of the fundamental methods modern time management. Simple, like all ingenious, the method allows you to take a fresh look at own activities to understand where precious working time goes.