Eisenhower matrix
What it is for
Use it when the day is full and nothing moves forward. The answer is usually that urgent things have eaten the important ones: the first have a deadline that shouts, the second do not. Splitting them on two axes makes the trade visible.
Your tasks
What you type stays in this browser and is never sent anywhere.
The top-right box is the painful one: important things you let become urgent. If it is full, the problem is not today, it is last week.
Frequently asked questions
How to use this model
What is the difference between urgent and important?
Urgent means the deadline is close. Important means it moves something that matters to you. They are independent: a thing can be due tomorrow and matter not at all, and a thing can have no deadline and be the most important one you have. They get confused, which is exactly why this matrix exists.
What if I have nobody to delegate to?
Delegating is only one way out. The others are shortening, automating, or accepting a worse job. A weekly meeting in that box can be halved; a report nobody reads can be ten lines. The point of the box is not handing work over, it is recognising it does not deserve your full attention.
Why is the Schedule box the most important?
Because it is the only one that does not defend itself. Urgent things make themselves heard, unimportant ones can be dropped, but important and not urgent things wait quietly until they turn urgent, and by then they cost twice as much. Maintenance, learning and relationships nearly all live there.
Where does what I type go?
It stays in this browser and nowhere else. There is no server behind it: the page draws the diagram and your own computer builds the file you download. You can disconnect and keep using it.
What goes in the delegate quadrant?
Tasks that are urgent but not important: the calls to return, the paperwork to file, the replies anyone could give. When there is nobody to delegate to, the next step is to make them faster or automatic.
Does my data stay on my computer?
Yes. The matrix is filled in and drawn entirely in the browser, even when you download the PNG: nothing you write is sent to a server, so you can put names of people and internal matters in it.