How to make decisions on what’s important and what’s urgent — The Eisenhower Matrix:

Sohaib Riaz
4 min readOct 25, 2019

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What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important — Dwight D. Eisenhower.

If you are facing any problem regarding managing your tasks that what needs to be done first and what can wait? Then here’s the solution!

What is the Eisenhower Matrix Model?

Eisenhower’s model is basically a perfect method that helps in prioritizing the daily life tasks on the basis of urgency. It helps to manage the activities that are important and requires attention and the things that are least important and requires no attention.

Eisenhower Matrix Model

Why this model came into being?

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th President of America. During his services he faced a lot of confusion and problems while managing his work, so finally he invented this Eisenhower Matrix to sought out the things in the most superlative way, he then started to prioritising his daily tasks by following the model and he also put forth this model for the people so that they can also use this to manage their urgent and important tasks according to priority.

The 4 Quadrants of Eisenhower Matrix –The Foremost Model to answer all the confusion- Urgent Vs Important:

The Eisenhower Matrix includes 4 basic points that are significant to follow;

⦁ Point No#1: “Do” -Important and Urgent, this point focuses to manage the crises and pressing problems, it includes the demand and necessity.

⦁ Point No #2: “Decide” — Important but Not Urgent, this point focuses on the strategies and values, it includes the opportunity and planning.

⦁ Point No 3# “Delegate”- Urgent, not Important, it focuses on the point of avoiding interruptions and busywork, it includes illusion and deception, not your emergency work.

⦁ Point No#4: “Delete” — Not Important and Not Urgent, it focuses on the limit and wasteful tasks, it includes escape and waste things just for entertainment.

Moreover,

Here I want to give credit to Amal Academy as they provide me the opportunity to learn about the task management model “The Eisenhower Matrix”, by studying this model now I can understand that how I should manage my daily tasks to make my work easy according to my priorities. Before this model trust me things seems extremely messy and awful, but this model helped me a lot in the proper management in regard to “urgent Vs important.

Here’s my Eisenhower Matrix that made my life easy:

My Eisenhower Matrix

My understanding of this matrix and what I learned from this model — The perfect way for productive decision making:

After reading about this matrix and after planning my tasks by following the model, trust me, I’m feeling quite relaxed as now I have a complete plan of urgent and important tasks that need my attention first and the things that can wait. So now I’m ready to use my time in the most productive way.

Furthermore,

The one thing that I learned here is that don’t complicate the things for you to keep your plan simple and easy so that you can effectively and efficiently use the Eisenhower Matrix.

Here the famous quote of Eisenhower that I think is important to mention here “ Plans are useless, but planning is essential.”

The perfect way for productive

Challenges:

Some challenges that I observed that to follow this plan properly I need to make my mind first, I need to strictly follow this matrix, because only by making the plans nothing happens, practice and effort are required to make this Eisenhower Matrix more effective and helpful.

The things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. — Goethe.

Eisenhower Matrix more effective and helpful

Conclusion:

Management is doing things right, and following them in the right way to bring positive change. Here I can say that this model makes me more productive and active.

Thanks For Reading.

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