It’s great to be given tools to hack your productivity, but if your to-do list is a mile long and you don’t know where to begin, you may need to approach your tasks from another perspective. Let’s talk about the two ways you can categorize tasks.
Is it Important?
A task that is defined as Important means it is of great significance or value. It is likely to have a profound effect on the success, survival, or well-being of your car wash.
Is it Urgent?
A task that is defined as Urgent means it is a task that requires immediate action or attention.
Now that we have those definitions in mind, we should talk about the Eisenhower Matrix.
The Eisenhower Matrix is a method of prioritizing your tasks on the basis of their urgency. It helps to determine the activities which are important and the ones which do not deserve your attention at all. The brainchild behind the famous Eisenhower Matrix is Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said, “most things which are urgent are not important, and most things which are important are not urgent.”
The matrix asks you to categorize your tasks into 4 quadrants according to what you need to do at a particular time during your day. These 4 quadrants are Do, Decide, Delegate, and Eliminate. Check out this video to learn a little more.
Do
The 1st quadrant of the Eisenhower Matrix, Do, consists of your most important tasks. The activities which need to be done urgently. The tasks with a deadline approaching or the ones that cannot be delayed generally fall in this category.
For putting tasks in this category, you need to thoroughly analyze your priorities first and then decide if it fits with the do it now criteria. If the task needs to be done within a day, or no longer than next day, it is an urgent task. Do.it.now!
Decide
The 2nd quadrant of the Eisenhower Matrix is Decide. It constitutes of the tasks which are important, but not necessarily urgent. This could include an array of responsibilities ranging from professional emails and follow-ups, to more personal appointments and commitments.
Tasks in this quadrant need to be scheduled for some other time. Generally, these tasks are the busywork that doesn’t necessarily contribute towards your growth.
Delegate
The 3rd quadrant of the Eisenhower Matrix is Delegate. This category refers to the tasks which are not important, but urgent. Although it sounds counter-intuitive, because naturally your first instinct would be that aren’t tasks which are urgent, important too? Not necessarily!
These activities generally give you the deception of being important, while in reality they don’t really contribute much towards your productivity. You need to decide whether you need to reschedule it or if someone else can do it for you.
Eliminate
The last category of the Eisenhower Matrix is Eliminate. These consist of tasks that are essentially your productivity killers. They do not contribute at all towards your goals. Identify these activities and eliminate them to give your productivity a boost.
