Urgent or Important? How to Set Priorities in Work and Life

Main criteria: urgent and important

The basis of the Eisenhower matrix is ​​the evaluation of all tasks according to two main criteria: urgency and importance. Eisenhower himself said: “There are two kinds of problems: urgent and important. Usually changsha telephone number data urgent ones are not important, and important ones cannot be urgent.”

In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey defines the terms “urgent” and “important” as follows:

Something is urgent if it requires immediate action that will have serious consequences if not addressed. Urgent tasks are unavoidable – but if you spend too much time putting out fires, you will burn out quickly.

Something is important if it has meaning for us in the long term. Such tasks require planning and consideration – their importance is subjective and depends on goals and value system.

Four quarters

To create a matrix, divide the sheet into four squares and add two axes: a vertical one for importance, and a horizontal one for urgency. This will create four quadrants:

• Quadrant A: important and urgent
• Quadrant B: Important and not urgent
• Quadrant C: unimportant and urgent
• Quadrant D: not urgent and not important

Quadrant A: Important and Urgent Tasks

Here are the tasks that are urgent: they are a priority and require immediate action. Try to leave this quadrant empty – it will be filled later with unplanned urgent matters.
Examples of important and urgent tasks:

• Pause online advertising if a website is down and unavailable
• Completion of work for which the deadline has already passed
• Urgent visit to the doctor

Quadrant B: Important and non-urgent tasks

Fill this section with tasks that will have a long-term impact and that you can plan ahead. It usually looks like this: the tasks in this section are not urgent right now and are postponed until later. Eventually midjourney: what is it, where does it live and how is it creating art with artificial intelligence? their deadlines expire and these tasks end up in quadrant A. To avoid this situation, determine right away how much time and when you can devote to important and non-urgent tasks.

Most of the tasks should go to quadrant B – it is the most important. This is the time to make important decisions, create new ideas, think about the next steps without rushing. Tasks from this quadrant help you develop continuously.

Examples of tasks that are important but not urgent:

• Preparation of marketing strategy
• Financial data analysis
• Playing sports

Quadrant C: Urgent and unimportant tasks

This category includes all hong kong phone number tasks that are not that important to you strategically, but cannot be postponed. Tasks from this section are the so-called “delegation zone” – most of them can be done by someone else. They can also be tempting: such tasks create the illusion of importance and busyness, but do not require too much attention and are not very responsible.

If you can’t delegate the tasks on this list, dedicate time to them when you’re least productive—for example, right after your lunch break or at the end of the day. Figure out how much time you can dedicate to them, and most importantly, don’t start your day with urgent or unimportant tasks. If you do, you risk spending your entire day on tasks that don’t really matter.

Examples of tasks that are urgent but not important:

• Checking email or messengers
• Help for your colleagues that someone else can offer
• Cleaning, when you can invite a cleaning company

Quadrant D: Not Urgent or Important Tasks

Such tasks are time-wasters. Scrolling through the Facebook news feed or pointless discussions in the comments are neither important nor urgent.

For many people, this is a way to take a break – and there’s nothing wrong with that if your productivity or energy levels don’t drop. But before you spend another three hours scrolling through your friends’ social media profiles, think about what kind of break will bring you more benefits.

The study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, claims: how we spend our free time strongly affects our motivation and satisfaction. People who play sports feel more motivated, and those who meditate or do yoga are more balanced.

Watching TV is no longer so straightforward: spending one evening watching your favorite series will give you energy the next day, but if you do it every day, you will quickly feel tired and disinterested.