Rashida
We’re constantly searching for ways to be more efficient and productive here at Content Cucumber, and we love sharing helpful ideas with our clients as well.
No matter what your role or industry is, there are some simple ways to increase your efficiency.
We’ve talked before about the Pomodoro Method for taking scheduled breaks, but today we’re sharing a helpful planning strategy: The Eisenhower Box Method.
What is the Eisenhower Box Method? How does it work?
Let’s dive in!
The History Behind It
Before exploring the details about how this method works, it’s helpful to examine how it came to fruition.
Yes, the “Eisenhower” in the name is related to the 34th president of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower.
Eisenhower was a five-star general in the U.S. Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II before becoming president. He launched several helpful programs during his presidency, including ones relevant to NASA, alternative energy sources, and the nation’s highway system.
In short, he was quite a productive guy.
The most impressive feat about his productivity was his ability to sustain it for decades.
People often wonder just how he was able to be so productive for so long.
One of his most famous techniques was the Eisenhower Box (aka the Eisenhower Matrix). Essentially, it’s a decision-making tool for prioritizing tasks.
The Eisenhower Matrix
This tool helps to plan your actions and optimize task selection. The box has four separate squares:
- Important AND Urgent tasks. These you do immediately.
- Important NOT urgent tasks. Schedule them for later.
- Urgent NOT important. Delegate these tasks.
- NOT urgent or important tasks. Eliminate these tasks.
You can use this box for a wide range of plans. For example, you can use it to plan for a month, a week, or a day.
Urgent vs Important
Clearly, to effectively use this box you must be able to clearly distinguish between urgent and important tasks. At first, these two can feel very similar. However, the subtle differences are key.
Urgent tasks need to be done now. Understandably, they are often important, but not always. Responding to an email where someone asked a question is urgent. But whether it is important may depend on the question. If the person needs your answer to continue their work, then it’s probably important. If they’re just checking in on the plan for the pizza party, then it’s not important.
While that’s a very clear example of the difference, it’s not always so cut and dry in real life. It can be very difficult to assess the importance vs urgency of tasks on the fly, which is why the matrix can be so helpful.
How to Use the Matrix
The box helps you make decisions about what to do and when. This streamlines productivity. It helps you zone in on what needs to be done first, so you don’t end up overwhelmed with important and urgent tasks.
One tip for using the matrix is to first list out all of your tasks. Like a normal to-do list. This makes sure you’ve got everything down.
From there, you’ll move tasks into the proper square on the matrix. Once you’ve gotten all of the tasks in their square, you can get to work with urgent/important tasks. It also makes it clear which to delegate.
The point of this process is to save you time and clarify your schedule. So, there’s no need to spend an hour doing it. As you continue to implement this strategy, you’ll get faster and faster at making the decisions.
We recommend that you create a matrix for the week and then a “mini” one each day. Creating the matrix for Tuesday at the end of Monday, for example, helps ensure you have all of the tasks accounted for. When you get to work Tuesday, you’ll be ready to go.
Eliminate Unnecessary Tasks
A major part of the value this matrix brings is exposing things we do not need to be doing. Sometimes, the idea of optimization and time management overshadows a simple truth: there are tasks you can eliminate. Being busy is not the same as being productive.
It can push you to determine if tasks can be deleted. Furthermore, it also helps you recognize repetitive tasks, opening your eyes to the possibility of automation.
Implementing the Eisenhower Box Method
The Eisenhower Box Method is a simple task prioritization tool that can help you figure out what to focus on, what to delegate, and what to eliminate. It works well for a wide array of tasks, including job or school-related ones. If you feel overwhelmed by everything on your to-do list and want a way to zone in on what to do first, give this method a try!
