Are you interrupted by others while you’re trying to get your work done? Do others need reassurance about their work? Do you feel like you are juggling several balls in the air at once with no time to recharge?
President D Eisenhower famously said “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important” recognising that we sometimes need to spend time on things that are important and urgent because these tasks require our immediate attention.
What is the matrix?
The Importance / Urgency matrix is a simple model for making tough choices. The basic idea is that if something is urgent, we must do it now. If it is important but not urgent, we can work on it at a better time. It’s an excellent tool which can help us understand how we spend our time and how to prioritise tasks. When applied consistently, this is a great model to help make decisions efficiently and effectively and I’ve used this model to map out longer term projects as well as daily plans.
It’s incredibly versatile!
Important & Urgent
Quadrant 1 is for the highest priority tasks that need doing now and you’re probably spending a lot of time working in this quadrant. You may well be thinking, ‘this is the quadrant I need to spend the most of my time because the tasks are important and urgent’. However, your time would be better spent working on your longer term goals but, because of the demands of running the business, you find yourself reacting to each new crisis. Crisis management can sap so much of your energy, that unless you make it a priority, it will continue to happen and your progress towards your goal will be put on hold.
To get back on track, you need to re-prioritise.
Look at the chart again and see where your highest priority task(s) actually falls. That is the task(s) you should start with.
Important not Urgent
Quadrant 2 is the place to be! Many people get stuck in Quadrant 1 because they become so obsessed with getting the task or project completed, they forget about the “why”. When your focus is on tasks that are important but not urgent you’re not firefighting. You’re productive, working in an efficient and effective way with time to plan activities and get things done properly. The great result here is that tasks from quadrants 1 and 3 are less likely to disrupt your work.
Urgent not Important
Quadrant 3 helps identify tasks that are getting in the way of being productive and distracting you from achieving your goals. Interruptions, dealing with phone calls and emails regularly appear here. When dealing with these tasks consider whether you can do them at another time by perhaps letting people know your availability to help them or delegate to someone else while you complete your tasks in Quadrant 2.
Not Urgent or Important
Quadrant 4 is your opportunity to ask a difficult question… ‘Do I really need to do this task?’ Deleting / eliminating tasks can be uncomfortable but if you have a strong enough desire, you can eliminate almost any task that doesn’t help you reach your goal.
- Take a few moments to think about which quadrant you spend most of your time.
- Use the blank bullet points to make the table your own.
- Are you working in Quadrant 2 most of the time?
- If not, what could you do differently?
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Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash
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