Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix sorts your tasks along two questions: how urgent is this, and how important is it? Once something has a place on the grid, the next step is obvious: do it, schedule it, hand it off, or let it go. It's one of the simplest prioritisation tools there is, which is exactly why it holds up under pressure.

When to use it: At the start of a chaotic week, before a conversation about workload, or any time a to-do list has stopped meaning anything. It works well solo, and even better as a coaching exercise - have a client sort their week live, then talk through what the pattern tells you about how they're actually spending their time.

How to get the most out of it: Be honest about the Urgent column. A deadline makes something feel urgent; it doesn't automatically make it important. The Delegate and Eliminate quadrants are usually where the real value sits, because they're where people are most reluctant to look. If most of the page ends up in Do First, that's not a productivity problem; that's a conversation worth having.