I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent. Dwight D. Eisenhower — Speech to Northwestern University, 1954
The Eisenhower Matrix is a time-management framework that separates tasks by two criteria: urgency and importance. Dwight D. Eisenhower, former US General and President of the USA, had to deal with many important and urgent problems in his time and recognised that you can only do so much at once. You may elect to to handle tasks immediately, later, to have others work on them, or to decide to never do them at all.
This system was popularized in Stephen. R Covey’s “7 Habits Of Highly Effective People” which you can obtain here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/7-Habits-Highly-Effective-People/dp/1416502491 (ISBN: 978-1863500296)
In the Dense Analysis preferred version of this system, we describe the Eisenhower Matrix with “four D’s:” “Do,”, “Delegate,” “Delay,” and “Delete.” By sorting tasks into one of four quadrants, you gain a clear action path and can prioritise the next important action to take. This system prevents you from defaulting to busywork and fires you up to tackle work that truly moves the needle.
Tasks that are both urgent and important demand your immediate attention. These include deadline-driven projects, crises, and critical problems.
Action: Handle personally as soon as possible.
Urgent yet unimportant tasks feel pressing but add little strategic value. Routine requests, minor logistics and basic data gathering belong here.
Action: Assign to someone else with precise instructions.
Important but not urgent tasks fuel long-term success — planning, skill building and relationship nurturing.
Action: Schedule specific time slots so they never become emergencies.
Tasks that are neither urgent nor important offer no benefit — most email threads, trivial admin and busywork.
Action: Remove or ignore to eliminate distractions.