What is the Eisenhower matrix?
Eisenhower matrix That is called Immediate Matrix – Important , Eisenhower box Or Eisenhower’s decision -making matrix It is also known as the famous model of time management, which can be prioritized and planned by comparing the importance and urgency of life and career.
Eisenhower matrix in the name Dwight David Eisenhower Named, he was one of the renowned men and general of the US Army, who served as the 34th US President from 1953 to 1961. Eisenhower was also present in the US Army as a general and military commander during World War II.
Due to his job, he was constantly making difficult decisions about things that should be focused on every day, and the same pressure and experience he had sought to try to invention. Eisenhower method It is possible to prioritize your duties and tasks with regard to their importance and urgency.
As you can see in the picture, the Eisenhower matrix consists of four general sections that can be more efficient in doing so and achieve more success in achieving our desired goals. These four sections are:
1. Important and immediate things: Do it
2. Important but non -urgent things: Schedule
3. Immediate but non -important things: Delegate
4. Non -urgent and non -important things: Remove it
Describe the performance of the Eisenhower matrix function
1..
These matters have the highest level of priority among other tasks and you need to focus on them so that they can be completed as soon as possible – often on the same day and within a few hours.
The slogan of this section: Do it!
This section (the green area of the Eisenhower matrix) called The stress part It is also known because all the listed things are important and may put a lot of stress and stress on the person. On the other hand, failure to perform the tasks categorized in Sections 2 and 3 may eventually move them to Section 1 and lead to a lack of time and stress.
These include critical problems, tasks that have little opportunity for them, or tasks that they will not perform serious consequences.
You must ask yourself to recognize the importance of a job Should this task be done by myself? Is it important to do? Will I finally answer that? Will I have a bad punishment or consequence if they do not do it? If your answer to these questions is positive, this is one of the important things.
To determine the urgency of a job you need to ask yourself That this should really be done today and within the next few hours or can it be postponed tomorrow or other days? If necessary, you should consider it as an urgent thing in the next few hours.
Consider, for example, a hospital that is regularly randomly and emergency patients who need urgent medical care. If a person has an acute appendix, it should be prioritized and prioritized over some important surgeries that do not need to be performed in the next few hours, so it is in Section 1 according to the Eisenhower matrix.
How to act?
To perform the tasks in this section, it is advisable to use the principle of “Eat Your Frog”, as the most difficult tasks initially make the rest of the task more desire and a great way to increase your sense of respect for yourself.
Just start with the hardest thing and you will see that everything will be easier after completing it than you imagined.
To ensure the affairs of Section 1 can be of * Fan Pomodoro Use that will make you focus more efficiently on your tasks. During each session, focus only on one task.
* Fan Pomodoro is one of the time management methods to which the best amount of time to work is 25 minutes, which is equal to the time required to prepare pumodoro tomato sauce.
2..
This group of tasks are long -term goals and tasks that are of great importance but have no specific time deadline. You have to schedule them in a way that after all the work of Section 1 is done, go to the most essential work in the area.
The slogan of this section: Take it, decide!
The second part (blue area in the Eisenhower matrix) with important but not -so -instant tasks Decision -making section Named.
Remember, only because these non -urgent labels are not said they do not need attention and timing, but these tasks will be problematic if we do not set a realistic time deadline and enter Section 1.
The affairs of this section are not different from the duties of Section 1, and to incorporate a job in this section, you need to ask yourself questions, including whether this must be done by myself.
To identify the urgency of the job, if it can be done with a bit of interruption and the following days, it will be considered non -urgent. Important but non -urgent things need to be scheduled and planned, and they will not be wise before the duties of Section 1.
In the example of the hospital, cataract surgery can be noted that the patient has been monitored for a long time and has a special day for his or her surgery.
How to act?
After categorizing important but non -urgent tasks, you should plan them as daily or weekly work lists and use the right planning techniques to do this.
It should be noted that even if you do the right planning and timing for these things, but you are negligent about your plan, the program will fail. To avoid this situation, be adhering to what you have left.
3. Important but urgent affairs
These are the trivial tasks that, although technically able to do, because of the urgency of the time it is best to do it to another person who specializes in this field.
The slogan of this section: Delegate to others!
The third part of the Eisenhower matrix (red area) is less important than other things that are highly urgent, and here is the point where having a team spirit is of great importance in organizational culture.
Delivering such things to others on the one hand increases teamwork and on the other hand gives you enough opportunity to handle the work of Sections 1 and 2.
Things that need to be done today or within the next few hours, but in response to the question of whether I need to do it myself? Your answer is negative.
For example, in the case of an individual hospital with serious appendix symptoms and should be operated immediately, but the hospital has no empty operating room, in which case it can send the patient to another hospital (the work is assigned to another hospital).
How to act?
Once assigned a job to others, you need to follow the results by phone, email or work sessions and monitor the progress of the work. Giving work to others without follow -up and monitoring is as bad as if no attempt has been made to do because in the end, no one will accept it.
Also, if you are carrying out a large project that has a lot of urgency and needs to be completed today, you can turn the project into two essential sections and give some of it to the other person or team to complete the tasks quickly and in a timely manner.
4.. Unimportant and non -urgent affairs
These things are often referred to as eliminating things, which do not need to do an attempt, and most people consider such things to be expensive.
The slogan of this section: Remove it!
The last part (gray area in the Eisenhower matrix) is related to things in personal or professional life that are neither important nor much urgent. These can be removed from your daily or weekly tasks list.
Some of the things in this section often will be resolved by themselves without paying attention to them, or in the case of the hospital, the issue of patient satisfaction with the facilities and care is important for the hospital, but it does not need to conduct the hospital itself, but it can delegate it to another institution, and there is no urgent to do it.
How to act?
Look for your bad habits to discover the affairs of this section that will waste your time and have no positive results. For example, aimless surfing the Internet, responding to emails that are not important, long -term telephone speaking that is of no particular use are all included in this category.
You can also consider specific times a day as leisure and do not have so important tasks such as checking emails – if checking emails is not a task for the other three parts – phone calls, etc., and never do it out of the specified time.
Tips on using Eisenhower matrix
- Make a list of tasks correct; The task list makes your mind not forced to keep everything, and you will also be more responsible for the things written on paper.
- It is usually better not to put more than 8 tasks in each section.
- Always ask yourself what is more valuable to be done first, using the “Eat Your First Frog” principle for Sections 1 and 2 will give you more acceleration and energy.
- Plan to do each work the night before and review your schedule in the morning.
- Eliminate distractions and do not allow others to set your life priorities.
- Use some techniques to quit your bad habits. For example, if you are accustomed to being on social networks and this will waste your useful time you can use blocking tools and more.
- Follow the tasks you have assigned to others.
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