While I have been a big fan of lists, I wish I had come across the Eisenhower Box much sooner. Along this journey, I have adapted concepts from David Allen’s book, “Getting Things Done,” the popular app “Remember the Milk,” and more recently, using Trello for managing tasks as it has been a wonderful tool in managing tasks with collaborators. What is so helpful in the Eisenhower Box is that it highlights the consideration for Urgency in tasks.
The diagram on the left illustrates the Eisenhower Box as a Decision Matrix. Though the one update that I would add to the box is where a task may be Not Important and Not Urgent, and Delegate is not an option (an individual or a small business/organization), the category would then be Reschedule or Delegate.
“In a 1954 speech to the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was quoting Dr J. Roscoe Miller, president of Northwestern University, said: “I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” This “Eisenhower Principle” is said to be how he organized his workload and priorities.”¹
In a recent conversation that I had, Important/Importance is how much the completed task contributes to a long-term mission or a vision. An example might be, “I want to go to college,” “I would like a certification,” “I want to travel,” and so on.
While Urgent/Urgency is something that is has a timeline on it. More Urgent might be something that has to be done in less than 24 hours. With less urgent items to be scheduled at a later time.
A common example of something that has high urgency might be a task that results from procrastination. Not ideal, but at least it’s something that can be mitigated. Other examples of high urgency is something that comes from someone else who needs your help.
The key is to look at tasks items in your to-do list, and review its importance and urgency. Using a chosen method in a consistent way, and reviewing consistently helps to make for a both, efficient and effective time management approach.
Perhaps using a scale, 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest value and then taking the result of the scale as a priority score:
Importance * Urgency
- Homework assignment due next week
- Plant a garden
- Take car to mechanic
- Presentation for Friday
Taking the above list, the order of priority depends on the individual’s situation. Applying a scale for importance and urgency helps to confirm or modify the order of the list.
- Importance (5) * Urgency (2) = 10 [I have determined that this assignment may take me 3 days and I can start later, but if I start too late, Urgency will jump to 5]
- Importance (3) * Urgency (1) = 3 [I want the garden for my de-stress activity and I can’t let it become an item to stress me, but I need to make sure I make time for it]
- Importance (4) * Urgency (3) = 12 [I can take the bus or work remotely, I need to repair the car before I need it to get somewhere where there is no alternative.]
- Importance (5) * Urgency (5) = 25 [I need this presentation to go well, it may result in good or bad opportunities at work.]
Therefore, the new order of the list is updated to:
- Presentation for Friday (25)
- Take car to mechanic (12)
- Homework assignment due next week (10)
- Plant a garden (3)
Keep in mind, as tasks get put off, a re-assessment may easily change the urgency of the task. This kind of review should be done regularly. How often depends on the personal workflow of the individual, and perhaps the type of tasks.
If you are looking for help on how to better apply a strategy like this for you or your organization, schedule an appointment for a free 30 minute consultation.
Thanks for reading and hopefully, this has provided some insight for you.