A Guide To Prioritisation

Using the matrix to help make decisions

Tasks.

Love them or loathe them, in the main they all need to be done.

It’s all very well capturing them, but if you don’t do anything with them then there’s very little point.

As someone who is keen to be as productive as possible, one of the questions I am often asked is ‘how do I know which task takes priority over another?’

It’s a great question and not always a clear-cut answer.

However, there is one, simple, method to consider how you should ‘attack’ your tasks.

It’s called the Eisenhower Matrix.

Usually displayed as a grid, like in the image above, there are four quadrants:

1. Urgent and Important: Do it now! These are the tasks that must be done now and are important to be completed.
2. Not Urgent but Important: There’s no urgency to get the task done, but it does need to be actioned. Schedule some time to do it.
3. Urgent but Not Important: This could be an ideal task to be delegated to someone else.
4. Not Urgent and Not Important: You have a couple of options. Either just delete it. Or add it to your ‘Someday’ list.

Using this simple strategy will help you focus on what needs to be done and when.

When it comes to delegation, be careful that the person you are delegating the task to actually knows what to do. You still “own” the task, so you are responsible for it being completed; and completed to a high standard.

If you delegate to someone, then you may lose that control.

Task management isn’t a science. It’s mostly common sense and if you use the Eisenhower Matrix, then this will help to reinforce your decision-making.

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