About the Eisenhower Matrix | Urgent vs Important

Two kinds of problems

In a 1954 speech at Northwestern University, Dwight D. Eisenhower said: I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent. He credited the line to a former college president. As general and president he was known for handing work to trusted staff, which is where the delegate box comes from.

Covey's four quadrants

Stephen Covey turned the remark into a grid in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) and later in First Things First. His quadrant II, important but not urgent, holds planning, learning, health and relationships. Covey argued that effective people spend more time there, so fewer things become emergencies.

The mere urgency effect

A study by Meng Zhu, Yang Yang and Christopher Hsee in the Journal of Consumer Research (2018) found that people often pick an urgent task with a short deadline over an important one with a bigger payoff, even when the important one is clearly better. Naming urgency and importance separately, as the matrix does, helps to catch that bias.

Using the four boxes

Do first means acting now on tasks that are both urgent and important. Schedule means putting important work in your calendar before it turns urgent. Delegate covers urgent tasks that someone else can do, and eliminate is for things that are neither. A due date and a delegate name on each card keep the plan honest.

Frequently asked questions

Did Eisenhower draw the matrix himself?

No. He made the remark about urgent and important problems, but the four box grid was drawn later by time management writers, most famously Stephen Covey. The name honours the idea, not a document.

What belongs in Schedule?

Work that matters but has no pressing deadline: planning, learning, exercise, maintenance and time with people. Give each task a date so it does not slide into Do first at the last minute.

How often should I review the matrix?

A short daily pass to pick today's tasks and a weekly review to empty the To sort tray, clear done tasks and question the Eliminate box work well for most people.