# Eisenhower Decision Matrix Created: 2022_02_27 21:50 Tags: [[Productivity]] [[Advice]] ## Eisenhower Decision Matrix ![[Eisenhower Decision Matrix.excalidraw.svg]] 1. **Urgent** & **Important** - Crisis, problems 2. **Important** & **Not Urgent** - Valuable 3. **Not Important** & **Urgent** - Distractions 4. **Not important** & **Not Urgent** - Wasting time Most are only in the 1st or the 4th quadrants. The 2nd one is the truly important stuff. ### Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important Tasks Quadrant 1 tasks are both urgent and important. They’re tasks that require our immediate attention and also work towards fulfilling our long-term goals and missions in life. Quadrant 1 tasks typically consist of crises, problems, or deadlines. ### Quadrant 2: Not Urgent but Important Tasks Quadrant 2 tasks are the activities that don’t have a pressing deadline, but nonetheless help you achieve your important personal, school, and work goals as well as help you fulfill your overall mission as a man. Q2 tasks are typically centered around strengthening relationships, planning for the future, and improving yourself. According to Covey, we should seek to spend most of our time on Q2 activities, as they’re the ones that provide us lasting happiness, fulfillment, and success. Unfortunately, there are a couple key challenges that keep us from investing enough time and energy into Q2 tasks: You don’t know what’s truly important to you. If you don’t have any idea what values and goals matter most to you, you obviously won’t know what things you should be spending your time on to reach those aims! Instead, you’ll latch on to whatever stimuli and to-dos are most urgent. If you feel like you’re lacking a life’s mission or aren’t sure what your core values are, I highly recommend reading our articles on developing a life plan as well as defining your core values. Present bias. As just discussed, we all have an inclination to focus on whatever is most pressing at the moment. Doing so is our default mode. It’s hard to get motivated to do something when there isn’t a deadline looming over our head. Departing from this fallback position takes willpower and self-discipline – qualities that don’t come naturally and must be actively cultivated and expressed. Because Q2 activities aren’t pressing for our attention, we typically keep them forever on the backburner of our lives and tell ourselves, “I’ll get to those things ‘someday’ after I’ve taken care of this urgent stuff.” We even put off figuring out what’s most important in life, which of course only perpetuates a cycle where all we ever take care of are the most urgent to-dos on our list. But “someday” will never come; if you’re waiting to do the important stuff until your schedule clears up a little, trust me when I say that it won’t. You’ll always feel about as busy as you are now, and if anything, life just gets busier as you get older (at least until you retire). To overcome our inherent present-bias that prevents us from focusing on Quadrant 2 activities, we must live our lives intentionally and proactively. You can’t run your life in default mode. You have to consciously decide, “I’m going to make time for these things come hell or high water.” ### Quadrant 3: Urgent and Not Important Tasks Quadrant 3 tasks are activities that require our attention now (urgent), but don’t help us achieve our goals or fulfill our mission (not important). Most Q3 tasks are interruptions from other people and often involve helping them meet their own goals and fulfill their own priorities. ### Quadrant 4: Not Urgent and Not Important Tasks Quadrant 4 activities aren’t urgent and aren’t important. They’re what I like to call “dicking around” activities. Q4 activities aren’t pressing nor do they help you achieve long-term goals or fulfill your mission as a man. They’re primarily distractions. ## References - [[Urgency, Importance, Significance]]