EISENHOWER  MATRIX

History. The Eisenhower Matrix is named after the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served in office from 1953 to 1961. He was the only American military general who got elected to President post.

The Eisenhower Matrix is commonly known as the Urgent-Important Matrix, the Eisenhower Box, or the time management matrix. It is a task-prioritization tool developed from a quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower that helps categorize tasks into four quadrants based on their urgency and importance to improve productivity and decision-making.

Dwight had to make tough decisions continuously  of the many tasks he should focus on each day. This finally led him to invent the world-famous Eisenhower principle, which today helps us prioritize by urgency and importance.

The president who was required to decide something everyday told First time 4 Ds of managing the time. The  4 Ds  are  

        Delete

        Delegate 

        Defer 

        Do 

This quick and simple method makes sure you use your time more effectively .

The fifth D is for Discipline and it is very important though  not part of matrix ,the president stated.

FURTHER ELABORATION 

Any activity or work we do can be categorised in 4 types.

    Important and urgent 

   Important but not urgent

  Not important  but urgent

 Not important and not urgent

An activity which is important to us may not be important to others. Here one has   to be clear about  what is important and urgent to oneself.

If one has to prioritize the activities then 

Important and urgent activities must be done ,Important and not urgent work should be scheduled ,(Deferred). Not important but urgent activities should be delegated and neither urgent nor important activities should be deleted .


This sounds very logical. The four paragraphs below give  some examples of types of activities we perform.

There is no choice but to do important and urgent things because if they are not done consequences can be severe and taxing so we give highest priority to them. Examples are activities related to meeting target dates when the end date is very close. Making payments of the bills for which the last date is today or arranging the things when the guests are about to visit.

Examples of important but not urgent activitied are  house keeping ,structured planning ,budgeting,or acquiring new  skills to help us improve our efficiency and effectiveness .. People who spend more time performing activities which are important but not urgent are most successful people.

If  we postpone to do  activities which are in this category  more often , because they are not urgent , then  a stage comes when those activities  become urgent and we are forced to do them  without any choice.

Examples of not important but urgent activities are : picking the ringing phone or attending the door bell or talking to   neighbor while we  come across. These activities happen out of courtesy or certain obligations of staying in the society. If they are not done we will be stamped as irresponsible or rude. 

Not important and not urgent activities  are those which either entertain us  to some extend  or help us relax our minds.

 Examples could be  watching a cricket match for 6 hours on the TV or  general chit- chatting in the group for long time. These are time wasters. Entertainment is essential but it shouldnot be addiction ...persons who relax too often and for long durations are considered lazy. 

Like 4Ds of time management based on importance and urgency there are also  4Ps !

The 4 Ps of Time Management—Prioritize, Plan, Prepare, and Perform —constitute a framework for 

increasing productivity 

           and

   reducing stress. 


They involve

 1. Identifying high-value tasks, 

 2 Scheduling the task

3, Organizing resources to reduce friction,

       and

 4 Executing with focus to achieve goals. 


______'Compiled by Rajendra Phansalkar


______________________________________






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