Eisenhower Matrix
Add tasks and say whether they are important and urgent. A task with a close deadline is treated as urgent for you. Print the four boxes or download them as a PDF.
Tasks are remembered for your next visit unless you clear your saved site data.
Worked examples
An important task due tomorrow
Important, deadline tomorrow, urgent within 2 days
Do now
The deadline makes it urgent automatically.
The same task due in five days
Important, deadline in five days
Schedule
It moves to Do now when it is two days away.
A phone call that is not important
Urgent only
Delegate
Urgent but not important tasks belong in the third box.
About Eisenhower Matrix
The Eisenhower matrix sorts tasks with two questions: is it important, and is it urgent. Important and urgent tasks you do now. Important but not urgent tasks you schedule, and these are where long-term progress comes from. Urgent but not important tasks, like many interruptions, you delegate or deal with quickly. And tasks that are neither you drop. The idea is to spend more of your time in the second box, so that fewer things become urgent in the first place.
Type a task and tick whether it is important or urgent. If you give it a deadline, the task counts as urgent as soon as it is due within the number of days you set, so a scheduled task moves into do now by itself as the date gets near. Each box is sorted by deadline, and you can tick tasks off, change their importance or urgency, or delete them. Print the four boxes or download them as a PDF. Your tasks are remembered for your next visit.
How to use Eisenhower Matrix
- Type a task and say whether it is important, urgent or both.
- Add a deadline if there is one, and choose how many days before it counts as urgent.
- Work through the do now box first, and put dates on the schedule box.
- Download the matrix as a PDF to print or share.
Common uses
- Planning your week
- Sorting an overloaded to do list
- Deciding what to hand to someone else
- Running a prioritising session with a team
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between important and urgent?
Important tasks move you towards your goals. Urgent tasks demand attention now, often because of someone else. A deadline makes a task urgent, but it does not make it important.
How does a deadline make a task urgent?
If the deadline is within the number of days you choose, which is 2 by default, the task is treated as urgent. A task that is overdue is also urgent.
What goes in the delegate box?
Tasks that need doing soon but do not need you in particular. Pass them on, or do them quickly. If they keep coming up, ask why.
What goes in the drop box?
Tasks that are neither important nor urgent. Be honest and remove them. If you cannot, give them a date in a quiet week.
Are my tasks saved?
They are remembered for your next visit unless you clear your saved site data. Download the PDF if you need a copy.