What Is Important: Organizing Tasks With The Eisenhower Matrix.
“I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” Dwight S. Eisenhower
When deciding to work towards a goal, it is easy to get overwhelmed with everything that comes with completing your goal. The Eisenhower Matrix is a great task management tool that can help organize tasks by how important and urgent things are. As a Life Coach, I have used the Eisenhower Matrix for myself, and I have shared it with others to help them organize and prioritize their goals. This is a simple tool that can easily be implemented in your life that can help become more organized and productive.
Dwight Eisenhower was a five-star general in the United States Army, served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, was responsible for planning and executing invasions of North Africa, France, and Germany, and was the 34th president of the United States. His methods for time management, task management, and productivity have fascinated many people. The Eisenhower Matrix, also known as the Eisenhower Box, is based on the quote above. It is a visual tool that allows you to prioritize tasks into two major groups; important vs urgent. Important tasks help you achieve your long-term goal, while urgent tasks require immediate attention.
When creating an Eisenhower Matrix, you start by making a to-do list of everything you need to get done. Once this list is created you draw 4 squares that each represent the different quadrants. The first quadrant is for tasks that are important and urgent. These tasks both help achieve your goal and require your immediate attention. The second quadrant is important but not urgent, the third quadrant is not important but urgent, and the fourth and final quadrant is not important nor urgent. Organizing your tasks in this way helps with organization, productivity, and adaptability. It can be used for everyday use or as a visual board for your long-term goals.
I learned about the Eisenhower Matrix when I was working on my Coaching certification. I found this one of the most helpful tools as I practiced the different task management strategies. As a visual learner, having something that I could use to organize my tasks, while also having a visual reminder, I was able to utilize this tool to help build my business, website, and blog. This tool helps me understand everything I need to accomplish, while not feeling overwhelmed by the entire to-do list that I have made for myself. It’s a simple yet effective tool that I can implement in my own life and teach others to use in their lives.
As a Life Coach, I teach others how to have a more action-focused mindset so they can take steps toward achieving their goals. The Eisenhower Matrix is a useful tool that can help others organize their tasks and become more productive. Being able to organize our tasks by importance and urgency helps alleviate the stress of achieving our goal and breaks it down into more manageable groups.
Join me next week as I discuss decision-making. Making decisions is an important part of life, but it is easy to second-guess ourselves. Becoming aware of the decisions we make and what effects they have can help us understand our values better. Always remember, we all can rise from our ashes and soar.