Urgent or Important? The Eisenhower Principle

Transcript

[Presenter] U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important and the important are never urgent."

In his speech, Eisenhower hit on a common problem: how easy it is to focus all of our attention on immediate tasks, rather than the things that really matter.

For example, maybe you want to study to gain a qualification, but somehow you never have time in between answering endless messages, attending meetings, or dealing with clients.

But, by sorting your tasks into ones that are urgent and ones that are important, you can make time for things like this that really matter. This is known as Eisenhower's Urgent/Important Principle and here's how you can use it.

First, make a list of all your tasks. Then sort them into one of the following four categories:

• Important and Urgent
• Important but not Urgent
• Not Important but Urgent
• Not Important and not Urgent.

Important activities have an outcome that leads to us achieving our goals, whereas urgent activities are usually associated with someone else achieving their goals.

Urgent activities demand attention because the consequences of not dealing with them are immediate.

Important and urgent

Once you've got your list of tasks together think about which ones are both important and urgent. These are your top priority. Important and urgent tasks are likely to be the core part of your role.

It could be getting a report done on time, talking to a top client, or keeping production running smoothly.

If you have a lot of urgent and important activities, identify which of these you could have foreseen and think about how you could schedule similar activities ahead of time so that they don't become urgent.

Important but not urgent

Your next priority should be things that are important but not urgent. These are the activities that help you to achieve your personal and professional long-term goals, like gaining a qualification or pursuing your own project.

But, because they're not urgent, these kinds of tasks can often fall by the wayside, so make sure you block out time for them in your schedule.

Not important but urgent

Next, what tasks are not important but are urgent? For example, meetings, excessive demands from coworkers or fielding phone calls. These types of tasks are often the main blockers that prevent you from achieving your goals.

It's okay to say "no" to these activities if you don't have capacity. Protect your time by blocking out space in your calendar so people know when they can and can't approach you.

Not important and not urgent

Finally, there are the not important and not urgent things or put simply, distractions. These might be things like organizing your email folder or computer tabs, but they can also be tasks that other people are asking you to do.

Remember that it's okay to say "no" to things if they aren't part of your role and don't contribute to your career goals.

By keeping in mind the Eisenhower Urgent/Important Principle, you'll be able to cut back on distractions and low-priority tasks, and instead focus your attention on what really matters.