Eisenhower Matrix Examples

You must have heard about Eisenhower Matrix or Priority Quadrant as a tool to prioritize tasks in our to do list. Many people struggle to understand which quadrant task must go. Eisenhower Matrix examples just show some example tasks in different quadrant.

Eisenhower Matrix examples for Quadrant 1

Many times, tasks in quadrant 1 are ideally the tasks of quadrant 2, which we procrastinated and didn’t do on time. Still, there are few tasks, that may land directly to quadrant 1. Some examples:

• Emergencies that we can’t plan about
  • Some medical emergency at home. Well, we can’t plan them but they need immediate attentions.
  • Funeral/death of someone close.
  • Handling crises at work
    • Say you are IT engineer and server break down
    • Say you are a manager and there is some major issues among your team members.
  • Vehicle breakdown; specially if you use it for daily work commute.
  • Legal summons
  • Natural disaster like flood, earthquakes
  • Power/Internet outage without notice
• Emergencies that could be planned by someone else
  • Your reporting manager gave you a task that has to be finished today.
    • You have to do it but escalate it politely.
  • Major Compliance Violation. If your role involve handling that but you were not aware of someone’s ignorance/mistake.
  • Overdue bills: Not your main responsibility but someone else didn’t do his/her task and now there is service disruptions.
• Emergencies that you could have planned
  • These are your own mistakes and procrastination. They are quadrant 2 tasks, that you didn’t focused on time.
  • Sending a report. You know you have to send it a week in advance but you procrastinated till last moment.
  • Project deadlines.

Eisenhower Matrix examples for Quadrant 2

In his book 7 habits of highly effective people, author suggest we must focus most on this quadrant. Yet, this is one of the most ignored quadrants, until its tasks get slipped in quadrant 1. Let’s see some examples of tasks in this quadrant.

• Regular exercise. Necessary for our physical health but many people ignore it, until they develop some health condition.
• Mental health. Like physical exercise, mental health is also important. We are not a machine which can work 24×7. Take some time to fulfil your hobbies or whatever give you mental relaxation.
• Managing relation. We work very hard now a days. This means, we take our relations as granted, they are not. We need to give sufficient time to our friends, family and need to maintain relation. This is specially important for your spouse and kids, they need your time.
• Pay your bills. If someone else can do it, put in into quadrant 3 but if only you can do it, it is in quadrant 2 and must be done by you.
• Set boundaries: Ensure work-life balance. It is not easy in developing countries like India but important. You will need personal time to work on your personal tasks in quadrant 2.
• Financial planning: Set your monthly budget, plan for old age, kids education, and other financial goals. This is important or you will live paycheck-to-paycheck, not a good idea, specially in developing countries, where government securities/facilities are not good.
• Professional development: Learn new things which may help ensure your professional growth in future. Take new courses, learn new skills.
• Maintenance: It could be home maintenance, vehicle maintenance or whatever. If your daily life depends on something, you need to maintain it.
• Me time: Everything is important, but you are most important. Have some time for yourself. Do what you like.
• Your goals: Last but not least, have you set your (life) goals?
  • If no, you may want to do it as soon as possible
  • If yes, make a Success Plan and invest time on SMART Goals towards your goals.

Eisenhower Matrix examples for Quadrant 3

Quadrant 3 means we need to delegate these things, whenever possible. Here are some example of tasks of quadrant 3

• Urgent but non-essential requests by others: This is one of the biggest sources of quadrant 3 tasks. We need to learn to Say No to them, as much as we can. Some examples:
  • Could you help me write an email? Really? If you can’t write the email, you do not belong here; learn it. Help them once or twice but don’t make a habit of it.
  • I’m stuck, could you help?
  • I’ve to go out urgently, but have a deadline today. Could you take care of my deadline (and work late to finish yours’)?
• Tasks delegated by your reporting head or some senior
  • We recommence to delegate your tasks but same applies to your seniors. For them, you are the person they delegate their tasks.
    • There are few things to remember; Are you hired for that, is it part of your main professional goal? If yes, do it. If no, you need to understand how to say no (I’ll leave it to your imaginations and conditions here)
• Unnecessary meeting
  • We are sometime invited into meeting, where we do not have much to do.
    • Can you decline? If yes, decline it.
    • Can you just follow (Read MOM later), do it.
    • Can you join virtual meeting with camera off? Just join and do your work, just keep enough focus to listen your name, if called.
• Email
  • They are great way of asynchronous communication. Let them that way only. You need not to reply most mails immediately. Check mails few times a day and reply non-urgent mails once a day in its dedicated time.
• Unscheduled calls
  • Is it necessary to take it immediately? If no, reject the call and call back once you have some time (washroom break, tea break etc)
  • My personal rule: if number is not saved in my mobile, I’ll not pick it immediately.
  • Use AI assistant. There are many apps, which may take calls on your behalf, like answering machine. Use them for unknown numbers.

Eisenhower Matrix examples for Quadrant 4

These are the tasks, we need to avoid. This list might not be applicable for everyone (You can count it as Me time, mental health etc.) Check which of them are applicable for you

• Watching Netflix/TV/web series (Fine for entertainment but at least time bound it to max one hour/day)
• Watching sports (Cricket/football): Playing it is good for physical health but what is the benefit of watching? If game is not enough, we also watch post-match ceremony, hear review of the game on TV/YouTube etc.
• Long calls. Its common among couples before arranged marriage. That’s a short phase so may be okay based on your goals. However, having long call for gossips is simply wasting the time.
• Wasting lot of time on Social media (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp etc.)
• Gossips, chit-chat,
• Learning skills not helpful for you major goal. We need to keep fine balance timebox it, if its me time or hobby.