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What is The Eisenhower Matrix 101 - this is how you stop overwhelm

Eisenhower Matrix 101: This is how you stop overwhelm (Ep 93)

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I’m thrilled to wrap up this epic series with the Eisenhower Matrix! This is truly how you stop getting overwhelmed. Also known as the urgent/important matrix, this a productivity gem named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was a productivity wizard. So, let’s unravel the secrets of this urgent-to-important matrix and discover how it can transform your overwhelm into organized brilliance!

**In this mini-episode, you’re going to hear me refer to episode 41: How to Do a Brain Dump When Your Brain is at Capacity

Eisenhower Matrix Unveiled

So, why the name Eisenhower Matrix? Well, it’s named after none other than Dwight D. Eisenhower, the President who redefined productivity. Picture a four-square matrix, each quadrant marked with labels like Urgent, Not Urgent, Important, and Not Important. Every day, Eisenhower would jot down tasks, slotting them into these boxes based on their urgency and importance.

Here’s where the magic happens – he focused not just on the Urgent and Important tasks but also on the Important yet Not Urgent ones. Most of us get tangled up in the Urgent and Important web, often neglecting the significant but not urgently pressing matters. These less urgent but crucial tasks often hold the key to long-term success, growth, and achieving our dreams.

The Eisenhower Matrix, also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix

The Magic of Prioritization

Eisenhower’s brilliance lay in his ability to prioritize effectively. So, who can benefit from the Eisenhower Matrix? Anyone feeling overwhelmed – because this matrix is the ultimate overwhelm-buster. If you’re unsure of your next step or your priorities, this tool will be your guiding light.

How to Fail at the Eisenhower Matrix

Now, let’s talk about how it’s all too easy to fail at the to Eisenhower Matrix:

  1. Don’t Believe the Hype: Believing that everything is both Urgent and Important. Discern wisely; not everything requires an immediate response.
  2. Embrace Elimination: Don’t be afraid to let go of tasks that fall into the Not Important and Not Urgent category. This box is your permission slip to say, “I’m not doing this, and that’s okay.”

Elevating Your Productivity Game

The Eisenhower Matrix is your secret weapon when feeling overwhelmed or when clarity on priorities is elusive. But remember, you’re not meant to fail. Instead, embrace these strategies, make them your own, and witness the incredible results.

As we wrap up this series, I hope you’ve enjoyed diving into these productivity powerhouses with me. If you have a favorite technique or one you think I should cover, shoot me a DM or an email. Your insights fuel the Balancing Busy podcast, and I can’t wait to hear from you.

Thank you for being a part of the Balancing Busy community. I’m here to help you do less but better, ensuring your dreams and ambitions align seamlessly with your home, health, and happiness. Until next week, keep rocking that busy life, and I’ll catch you next week.

Links You Need: 

Ep 89: Time Blocking 101 – how to win and fail at time blocking (Part 1 of 5)

Ep 90: Task Batching 101: My #1 productivity tip to front stack progress (Part 2 of 5)

Ep 91: The Pomodoro Technique 101:  Why it works and when to use it (Part 3 of 5)

Ep 92: The Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule: How to leverage this favorite productivity technique to do less (part 4 of 5)

You’re in part 5!

Connect with me over on Instagram, and let me know what you’re taking away from this episode!

Want to learn how to drop an entire workday a week? Grab my FREE COURSE

Other Episodes You’ll Love:

Ep 41: How to Do a Brain Dump When Your Brain is at Capacity

Ep 59: The Overwhelm Antidote

[00:00:00] Leah: We are talking about the Eisenhower matrix. Now I go deep into the Eisenhower matrix in episode 41, where I talk about the brain dump method and how there is so much power in combining the brain dump method with the Eisenhower matrix. And when you put those two together, it is. Oh, magic, but for the sake of brevity and keeping this one really short, we are going to talk just about the Eisenhower Matrix, but I can’t, I can’t stress enough and encourage you.

[00:00:26] Leah: Go listen to episode 41 because it’s a really good one if I, if, if that’s not too bold of me to say. Okay. So Eisenhower Matrix. . Yes, it is actually named after the United States president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who became president in 1953. And it’s named after him because he was so dang productive. So this is one of those guys who gets more done in a day than most people do in a week, but he doesn’t just do it.

[00:00:53] Leah: For a small period of time, he does it for decades, to the extent that people were studying and trying to figure out how is this man so productive. And so they’d ask him and they talked to him and it turns out that he had this method and it was this urgent to important matrix. So it was a four square.

[00:01:11] Leah: Imagine like, you know, if you were playing four square as a little kid, right? Four boxes. And you had. The boxes above labeled, and then on the left side, and they were labeled on the top, urgent, and then not urgent, and then on the left side, important as the top, and not important as the bottom.

[00:01:33] Leah: Now, here’s what Eisenhower would do every single day. He would sit down, make a list of all the things he needed to do, and he would put them into a box. Is it important and urgent? Is it not urgent, but important? Is it not important, but urgent? Or is it not important, not urgent? Once he had placed all the tasks in their appropriate box, he focused on what was important and urgent and what was important but not urgent.

[00:02:03] Leah: And here’s where his magic really showed up. A lot of us focus on important and urgent. That one’s obvious. And we focus on Not important and urgent, and we neglect the important, but not urgent, right? I mean, if you don’t feel this pressing deadline, you keep putting it off. But those are often the things that will truly move the needle for us, for our goals, for our dreams, for the direction we want to see our business or our lives or our family take a year from now or five years from now.

[00:02:38] Leah: By focusing on the not urgent, but important, by making sure you’re scheduling time for those high priority focuses that are so easy to put off for another day, he was able to outperform his counterparts. Over and over and over. Now, I can’t stress it enough. I really would encourage you to go back to that episode number 41 where we can go into this so much deeper.

[00:03:07] Leah: But here’s who the Eisenhower Matrix is for. Anyone feeling overwhelmed. Oh, every time I am at that point where I am like total overwhelm. I’m done. Oh my gosh. I use the braindead method plus the Eisenhower matrix every single time. It’s also for anyone who’s unsure of their next step. They’re unsure of priorities.

[00:03:26] Leah: This is going to make it incredibly clear for you. Now here’s how to fail at the Eisenhower matrix. Believe too many things. Um, and urgent and important when they really aren’t. You’re going to fail, definitely, if you keep that strategy in place. And the second is refusing to eliminate. One of the boxes that I really actually love is the one that’s not important and not urgent.

[00:03:52] Leah: When things go into that box, I can almost always say, I’m not gonna do it and just let that go. But if we choose to believe that everything has urgency, everything is important, everything needs to be done, we need to be the one to do all the things. We burn out. We just can’t. It’s too hard. So, that’s, that’s when we start feeling like we’re failing.

[00:04:15] Leah: And you are not meant to fail. So, use these strategies. Use all of them. Grab onto them. Give them a try. Adjust them. Make them work for you. But when we stack these different strategies on top of each other, Wow. Amazing things happen. I hope you have loved this series and really enjoyed learning, um, just a little bit more.

[00:04:40] Leah: I’m sure you knew them, but maybe getting a little bit more of a takeaway. And I hope that if nothing else, it’s going to remind you to utilize these different techniques. And if you have one that you think I should have covered that you love, Send me a DM or an email and tell me. I would love, love, love to hear.

[00:04:58] Leah: Thank you so much for listening to the Balancing Busy podcast. I am here to help you do less but better so that you can have your dreams and your ambitions, but never at the cost of your home, your health, or your happiness. I’ll see you next week.

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