How to make decisions on what is urgent and what is important. The Eisenhower Matrix How to make decisions on what is urgent and what is important.

Important & Urgent Quadrant 1 – DO now Do it now – these tasks are very important and just need to be acted on immediately Usually the most time and energy consuming These are typically “crisis or fire fighting” items Do these first and everything else on your list will seem easy Examples might include deadlines (budgets) crises, meetings, projects, customer problems Understand the difference between urgent and important Urgent – requires immediate action Important – has great significance or value Some tasks are important but not urgent – ask yourself if they are necessary for your long-term goals

IMPORTANT BUT NOT URGENT QUADRANT 2 – SCHEDULE A TIME This is a very important segment where we plan our growth and prevent these things from moving to the URGENT list. Plan and plan some more. Think long-term and preventatively. Eventually, most of our time should be spent here. Develop systems and processes to prevent these type of items from becoming urgent. Examples of items in the segment will be planning, preparation process, developing preventative systems, building relationships, personal growth and relaxation.

NOT IMPORTANT BUT URGENT QUADRANT 3 - DELEGATE Think interruptions – things that are not or can not be scheduled ahead of time. Things that come to us without warning and can not be ignored. Activities that are rarely important to us and do not progress us forward on our own objectives and priorities. If you are interrupted, deal with it quickly, don’t engage any more than necessary and quickly delegate it to someone else. Examples include interruptions by colleagues, phone calls and/or emails, some meetings, distractions, other peoples priorities and expectations.

NOT IMPORTANT & NOT URGENT QUADRANT 4 – ELIMINATE Time wasting and procrastination lives here. Sometimes we gravitate here because we don’t want to tackle a complex or unpleasant task. Or we are simply unmotivated to do what’s important – maybe you just need a vacation??? Start working on the task you don’t like and soon your will feel better and most likely realize that it wasn’t as bad as it appeared to be initially. Starting can be the hardest part of a difficult task. Examples of these are time killers, social media, games, surfing the internet, coffee breaks and anything that unnecessarily takes you from your work.