There are little fires everywhere in the office. And we get so busy putting out those fires we can spend a whole day — even a week — spinning around and around spraying from our fire extinguishers. In the end, it’s all about time management.
There are hundreds of books, tools, and techniques to help you manage your time more effectively. But most of them don’t solve the problem. You have a huge task list (that’s growing every day) and no time to work on it.
WHY? Every item on your list isn’t prioritized — they all have the same urgency (now) and importance (they are all important). But we all know that’s not true.
There is one tool I use and recommend to all of my clients: The Eisenhower Matrix. Invented by Dwight D. Eisenhower, it’s been stolen, renamed, and made infinitely more complex by many self-help writers. Here it is in its simplest form:
Take your impossibly long task list (the one that gets longer every day) and plug each task into one of these four areas:
DO TODAY - High Urgency & High Importance
Description: Urgent and important tasks you’ll work on immediately (today).
Example: “Get approval for budget today.” You’ve probably procrastinated on it, and now you have to do it TODAY.
Action: Reduce time spent in this quadrant by doing more work in SCHEDULE.
SCHEDULE - Low Urgency & High Importance
Description: Important, but not urgent tasks that can be scheduled for later.
Example: “Build presentation for July meeting.” Involves future planning through strategic thinking. Requires initiative and intention.
Action: Spend more time in this area. Think in terms of weeks and months rather than NOW. If you have to push it a week, do it here.
DELEGATE - High Urgency & Low Importance
Description: Urgent, but not that important tasks that need to be completed quickly.
Example: “Run monthly sales report,” which can be handled more efficiently by Susan in Finance. Or someone on your team. Not you.
Action: Empower your team and peers by assigning tasks in this area. This enables your team to do independent decision-making and frees up your list. It also strengthens your delegation skills daily.
ELIMINATE - Low Urgency & Low Importance
Description: Not urgent or important tasks that should be eliminated.
Example: “Lunch with Steve,” which has been on your list for weeks.
Action: Eliminate tasks that do not align with the company’s mission and goals. Learn to say ‘NO’ or ’Not Now’ more often. Kill these immediately.
Every day, I fill out a new sheet (it takes 2-3 minutes) by transferring old items into new quadrants and adding new tasks. It’s not that hard.
I’ve attached a PDF template I use every morning — start using it today!