Now or later?
Your priority matrix
For when everything on your list feels urgent at once
The priority matrix helps you sort tasks by how important and how urgent they are, so you can see what needs doing now and what can wait. It's a starting point, not a test.
You might also know it as the Eisenhower matrix, named after former US president Dwight D. Eisenhower, who observed that the important things are rarely urgent, and the urgent things are rarely important.
1. Empty your list
Add everything you're juggling, one task at a time. Work, home, the half-remembered thing from Tuesday - all of it.
2. Ask two questions about each one
Urgent means it has a real deadline soon, not just a loud reminder.
3. See where everything lands
Do it now
Important and urgent
Plan it in
Important, not urgent. Book time for it.
Pass it on
Urgent, not important. Can someone else do it?
Park it
Neither important nor urgent. Let it wait, or let it go.
4. Decide what's next
Keep what you've written
Your answers are saved on this device only - I can't see them. Bookmark this page to come back to it again and again, or copy your answers into your notes, print the page or save it as a PDF.
Curious about coaching? If your list often feels like a tangle, book a free discovery call to find out how coaching with me works and whether it's right for you.
Arranging support for someone in your team? Here's how employer-funded coaching works.