How to use the Eisenhower matrix?
The Eisenhower matrix sorts each task by two criteria, urgency and importance, into four quadrants: do it now (urgent and important), plan it (important, not urgent), delegate it (urgent, not important) and delete it (neither). To use it, list your tasks, ask two questions about each one, place it in its quadrant, then deal with the quadrants in that order.
What is the Eisenhower matrix?
The Eisenhower matrix is a prioritisation tool. It answers a simple question: of everything I have to do, where do I start, and what can I skip altogether?
It takes the form of a grid with two axes. One measures the importance of a task, the other its urgency. Where they cross, you get four boxes, each tied to a decision. The question is no longer "what is pressing?" but "what should I do with it?".
It is named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, general and then President of the United States. In a 1954 speech, he quoted an idea he attributed to a former college president: what is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important. The four-quadrant grid was later popularised by Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The history of the Eisenhower matrix tells this story in detail.
Urgent or important: telling the difference
The whole method rests on this distinction, and this is where most people go wrong.
- A task is urgent when it has a close deadline and waiting has an immediate consequence: a customer expects an answer this morning, a deliverable goes out tomorrow, a breakdown is blocking the team.
- A task is important when it contributes directly to your objectives or your team's: preparing a project, training a colleague, fixing an underlying problem, building an action plan.
Urgency comes from outside and announces itself (a notification, a call, a reminder). Importance does not announce itself: you have to judge it. That is why urgent tasks naturally take over from important ones, even when they matter less.
The 4 quadrants explained
| Urgent | Not urgent | |
|---|---|---|
| Important | 1. Do it now, yourself | 2. Plan a date in the calendar |
| Not important | 3. Delegate to someone available | 4. Delete or postpone with no date |
Quadrant 1: do (urgent and important)
These are critical tasks with a close deadline: a customer crisis, a file due tomorrow, an incident that stops production. Deal with them immediately, and do them yourself. The principle known as "Eat the frog" applies here: start the day with the heaviest task in this quadrant, before requests start piling up.
A quadrant 1 that is always full is a warning sign: it means important tasks were not anticipated and have become urgent.
Quadrant 2: plan (important, not urgent)
This is the quadrant that moves things forward: preparing a project, training the team, improving a process, building an action plan, taking a step back on a subject. Nothing is pressing, so nothing pushes you to do it. These tasks need a date and a reserved slot in the calendar, otherwise they slip indefinitely.
The long-term goal is to make this quadrant grow: the more you handle what is important before it becomes urgent, the less pressure you are under.
Quadrant 3: delegate (urgent, not important)
These tasks call for a quick response but have little bearing on your objectives: handling an administrative request, answering some calls or emails, organising the logistics of a meeting. They feel productive while eating into the time meant for important work. Hand them over to someone who has the availability and the skills to deal with them.
Delegating does not mean forgetting: a delegated task has a named owner and a due date, and you should be able to see where it stands without chasing anyone by hand.
Quadrant 4: delete (neither urgent nor important)
Excessive attention to detail, unnecessary approvals, meetings with no purpose, procedures that no longer have a reason to exist: these tasks do not help you reach your objectives. Drop them whenever you can. They cost you twice: the time it takes to do them, then the time it takes to refocus on a task that matters.
The method in 5 steps
- List everything. Write down all your current tasks without sorting them, including the small and recurring ones.
- Ask the two questions. For each task: is it important for my objectives? Is it urgent, with a real consequence if it waits?
- Place each task in a quadrant. If you hesitate, the task is probably less important than you think.
- Decide for each quadrant. Quadrant 1: done today. Quadrant 2: a date in the calendar. Quadrant 3: a name and a due date. Quadrant 4: crossed out.
- Review the matrix every week. Urgency and importance change: a quadrant 2 task left aside ends up in quadrant 1.
To get started without building the grid yourself, you can use one of our Eisenhower matrix templates to download (Excel, PDF, Word).
A concrete example: a team leader's week
Here is how a team leader might sort their Monday morning list. The example is fictitious.
| Task | Quadrant | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Answer a complaint from a key customer, expected today | 1. Do | This morning, first thing |
| Finalise the budget due on Wednesday | 1. Do | Today and tomorrow |
| Prepare a team member's annual review, in three weeks | 2. Plan | Slot blocked on Thursday |
| Review the onboarding process for new starters | 2. Plan | Two hours on Friday |
| Book a room and send the invitations for the team meeting | 3. Delegate | To the assistant, by this evening |
| Compile the weekly figures in the usual spreadsheet | 3. Delegate | To a team member, by Tuesday |
| Reformat a presentation that has already been approved | 4. Delete | Dropped |
The result is not a shorter list, it is a list where every task has a decision. The two quadrant 2 tasks are the ones that would have been sacrificed without the matrix.
Common mistakes
- Putting everything in quadrant 1. If everything is urgent and important, nothing is. An overflowing quadrant 1 means revisiting your criteria, or renegotiating deadlines.
- Confusing urgency with pressure. An insistent reminder does not make a task important. It makes it loud.
- Planning without a date. "I'll do it when I have time" is not a decision. A quadrant 2 task with no slot will end up in quadrant 1.
- Delegating without follow-up. A task handed over without a clear owner or due date often comes back to your desk, as an emergency.
- Doing the matrix only once. It is only useful if you review it regularly, at least once a week.
Benefits and limits
The main benefit is clarity. In a few minutes, the matrix shows where your time goes and what deserves your attention. It helps you say no to quadrant 3 requests, protect quadrant 2 time and reduce the feeling of being constantly overloaded.
It also has limits. It is a simplified view of a complex reality: two criteria are not always enough to separate very different tasks. It requires you to distinguish urgency from importance, which goes against old habits. It says nothing about how long tasks take, or in what order to handle them within the same quadrant. Other approaches can fill these gaps: our 9 easy tips to manage your priorities better and our article on prioritization in task management cover them.
From a personal matrix to a team action plan
The Eisenhower matrix is designed for one person. In a team, the same decisions have to be made together: who does what, by when, and what do we drop. Quadrants 2 and 3 then become shared actions, each with an owner and a due date, followed up by the manager and reviewed in meetings. Our resources for effective managers go further on this point.
This is where a personal grid shows its limits: a matrix on paper or in a spreadsheet does not remind anyone and does not tell you where delegated actions stand. A shared action management tool takes over: each action keeps its owner, its due date and its progress, visible to the whole team.
In practiceManage tasks and priorities with PerfonyTurn your priorities into tracked actions: an owner, a due date, a progress status, and reminders that go out on their own. Integrated with Microsoft Teams, hosted in France.Discover action managementFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between urgent and important?
An urgent task has a close deadline and an immediate consequence if it waits. An important task contributes directly to your objectives. Urgency announces itself, importance has to be judged.
What goes in quadrant 2 of the Eisenhower matrix?
Important but not urgent tasks: preparing a project, training the team, improving a process, building an action plan. They need a date and a slot in the calendar, otherwise they become urgent.
How often should you review your Eisenhower matrix?
At least once a week. The urgency and importance of tasks change, and a task that was planned but forgotten ends up in the urgent quadrant.
Does the Eisenhower matrix work for a team?
Yes, provided the quadrants become shared actions: each planned or delegated task gets a named owner and a due date, tracked in a common tool and reviewed in meetings.