#Time management priority matrix how to#

The whole objective of CoveyвЂ™s time management matrix is to encourage us to question whether a certain task helps us achieve our goals or not. If we want our work to sit mostly in вЂњimportant and not urgentвЂќ, we first need to identify our highest-priority tasks. The matrix gives you four quadrants, which can be used in prioritization and deciding about tasks you will need to do, tasks that can be delegated, and tasks. This is the quarter we should be prioritizing, since doing so will help us be more effective in our work and minimize bad work stress. Q2 is all about proper planning-about putting the necessary time in before things become urgent. This quadrant deals with unforeseen issues-unexpected yet pressing problems-but if we spend enough time in Q2, we should minimize the amount of urgent tasks we have to deal with. But we should also be trying to minimize Q1 (important and urgent) as much as possible.

#Time management priority matrix how to#

How to manage your time management matrixДЄs you can see, the top two quadrants are what we should be focusing on-theyвЂ™re вЂњimportantвЂќ. US educator and businessman Stephen Covey understood this вЂњurgency addictionвЂќ, and to help identify whatвЂ™s truly important versus whatвЂ™s urgent, he created his time management matrix.ДЄccording to the matrix, everything we do in life can be sorted by both its urgency and its importance. But when that wears off, we realize weвЂ™ve spent the whole day doing things that donвЂ™t really matter. To prominent management academics and practitioners, Dwight Eisenhower is recognized as one of the greatest management leaders of all time. When we know a deadline is looming, our reactive brain kicks in we put all our energy into completing something simply because itвЂ™s вЂњurgentвЂќ, and then are rewarded with a brief hit of dopamine for our efforts. ItвЂ™s in our nature to prioritize urgent tasks.

This matrix is basically a way of figuring out what you should be doing, and of learning to approach your commitments more consciously, something President Eisenhower was known to do very well.

These two words often seem interchangeable, but thereвЂ™s a big difference between them-and this difference forms the crux of the time management matrix, which is commonly coopted as the EisenhowerВ Matrix. When youвЂ™re really busy at work, rushed off your feet with tasks, itвЂ™s easy to overlook the distinction between whatвЂ™s вЂњimportantвЂќ and whatвЂ™s вЂњurgentвЂќ. Incident Priority is derived from urgency and impact. Among other strategies, the time management matrix can help us make better use of our time. Put another way, nearly half of all our time is misplaced and we have a huge opportunity to refocus it on something more valuable. According to a six-year global study of 351,000 people, over 40% of time in the workplace is spent carrying out tasks that ultimately donвЂ™t matter. What most people have in common, no matter their profession, is that they commonly prioritize the tasks that shout the loudest over those that are actually the most important. You probably waste far more time than you realize-almost all of us do.