About the Eisenhower Matrix Spreadsheet

The Eisenhower Matrix, also referred to as Urgent-Important Matrix, helps you decide on and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance, sorting out less urgent and important tasks which you should either delegate or not do at all.

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Eisenhower Matrix (or Eisenhower Box or Principal) is a very simple tool for eliminating busy work, finding focus, and making decisions based on what’s truly important and necessary to handle.

As James Clear notes on his blog, “The great thing about this matrix is that it can be used for broad productivity plans (‘How should I spend my time each week?’) and for smaller, daily plans (‘What should I do today?’).

How the Eisenhower Matrix Works

First, tasks are evaluated using the criteria important/unimportant and urgent/not urgent. Then they’re placed in quadrants as follows:

1. Items in the Important/Urgent quadrant are done immediately and personally. These might include crises, deadlines, and problems.
2. Items in the Important/Not Urgent quadrant are assigned a due date and scheduled to be done later. They’re also handled personally. These often include tasks related to relationships, planning, and recreation.
3. Unimportant/Urgent quadrant items are delegated to others to handle. These might include meetings, research, or editing.
4. Unimportant/Not Urgent quadrant are dropped completely. Modern life is full of time wasters and obligations. Many of these are fun, but others prove the case it’s often better just to say “no.”

“I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower