| Urgent | Not Urgent | |
|---|---|---|
| Important | Do | Plan |
| Not Important | Postpone | Eliminate |
Do the tasks in quadrant 1. These are the items that are both urgent and important, and they, therefore, demand your action right away. Items in this quadrant typically include crises and issues with deadlines.
Decide on when to deal with the tasks in quadrant 2. These are essential issues, but they’re not urgent and therefore don’t require your immediate action. So these are the items you’ll want to schedule work for a later time.
Delegate the tasks in quadrant 3. These are urgent items that pop up and demand immediate attention. But because they’re not necessary, they don’t necessarily require your time, and they can, therefore, assign them to someone else.
These items in your Eisenhower Matrix are not essential or urgent, so you can, in most cases, erase them from your list.