Eisenhower Matrix

Before Dwight Eisenhower became president in 1953, he served in the U.S. Army as an Allied Forces Commander during World War II. He was faced with difficult decisions every day that led him to invent what is now called the Eisenhower matrix, or the urgent-important matrix.

Good for Strategy Sessions

Good for Leadership Roles

How it works

Organize your tasks into four separate quadrants, sorting them by important vs. unimportant and urgent vs. not urgent, as shown in the graphic below. Urgent tasks are those we feel need to get done immediately. Important tasks are those that contribute to your long-term goals or values. Ideally, you should only work on tasks in the top two quadrants—the other tasks, you should delegate or delete.