Using a Matrix to discover your priorities...

David McKee · 07-16-2009, 08:11 PM

I posted on my blog some time ago about one of the greatest tools devised for prioritization called the "Prioritization Matrix" or alternatively "The Eisenhower Matrix" as it was used by President Eisenhower to help him decide what he should do, and in what order.

It has been said that to achieve anything you desire you need only write down what you need to do today, put it in order from most important to least, and then do it in that order. If you do this consistently you can achieve anything.

The problem for most of us is that we don't really know how to gauge the importance of a task - or even if we should be doing it.

Dewitt Eisenhower would draw a 2 by 2 grid (See the blog post for a better picture) and label one axis as "urgency" and the other as "importance". Then he would place his tasks in this grid based on how urgent and how important they were. From this he was able to decide what to do first, what to do later, what to delegate to others, and what to get rid of altogether.

Prioritization – How to Find Your Focus | The Master Achiever

This is the true secret to finding focus and achieving your dreams - knowing what to do, knowing when to do it, and then doing it.

David T. McKee

clubvikram · 07-17-2009, 05:17 AM

During my college days one of my teachers always used to tell us to do the tasks according to the urgency and importance.your post reminded me back about what he said and your post made me really understand what he actually wanted to convey

David McKee · 07-17-2009, 07:23 AM

Thanks, I appreciate that!

By the way if you read the blog post you will see that there are actually two very important matrices: The Eisenhower (Urgency/Importance) and the Impact Effort Matrix, which measures the effort of a task against it's importance or impact. The best way to prioritize a task to to use both (which basically makes this a priority "cube" ).

Do the most important, most urgent, least effort tasks first.

DTM

07-16-2009, 08:11 PM	#1
David McKee Affiliate SledgeHammer War Room Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Mint Hill, NC, USA. Posts: 441 Blog Entries: 5 Thanks: 147 Thanked 84 Times in 61 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Using a Matrix to discover your priorities... I posted on my blog some time ago about one of the greatest tools devised for prioritization called the "Prioritization Matrix" or alternatively "The Eisenhower Matrix" as it was used by President Eisenhower to help him decide what he should do, and in what order. It has been said that to achieve anything you desire you need only write down what you need to do today, put it in order from most important to least, and then do it in that order. If you do this consistently you can achieve anything. The problem for most of us is that we don't really know how to gauge the importance of a task - or even if we should be doing it. Dewitt Eisenhower would draw a 2 by 2 grid (See the blog post for a better picture) and label one axis as "urgency" and the other as "importance". Then he would place his tasks in this grid based on how urgent and how important they were. From this he was able to decide what to do first, what to do later, what to delegate to others, and what to get rid of altogether. Prioritization – How to Find Your Focus \| The Master Achiever This is the true secret to finding focus and achieving your dreams - knowing what to do, knowing when to do it, and then doing it. David T. McKee
	CALLING ALL WARRIORS! We have opened our affiliate database to everyone FREE! Last edited by David McKee; 07-21-2009 at 08:14 AM. Reason: refresh thread

07-17-2009, 05:17 AM	#2
clubvikram Banned War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: , , . Posts: 206 Thanks: 1 Thanked 12 Times in 11 Posts	Re: Prioritizing : The Eisenhower Matrix During my college days one of my teachers always used to tell us to do the tasks according to the urgency and importance.your post reminded me back about what he said and your post made me really understand what he actually wanted to convey

07-17-2009, 07:23 AM	#3
David McKee Affiliate SledgeHammer War Room Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Mint Hill, NC, USA. Posts: 441 Blog Entries: 5 Thanks: 147 Thanked 84 Times in 61 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Prioritizing : The Eisenhower Matrix Thanks, I appreciate that! By the way if you read the blog post you will see that there are actually two very important matrices: The Eisenhower (Urgency/Importance) and the Impact Effort Matrix, which measures the effort of a task against it's importance or impact. The best way to prioritize a task to to use both (which basically makes this a priority "cube" ). Do the most important, most urgent, least effort tasks first. DTM
	CALLING ALL WARRIORS! We have opened our affiliate database to everyone FREE!