If You Have Trouble Organizing, This Is Your Post
Have you ever heard of the Eisenhower Matrix?
One of the biggest problems we encounter when organizing ourselves is prioritizing the tasks we have to do.
Why? Because when we have pending tasks, we tend to see them as a threatening ball of work coming towards us and, oh my god! I don’t know where to start.
And suddenly, boom! Overwhelm and blockage.
A “wonderful” matrix
The Eisenhower Matrix is a kind of box matrix that divides your problems and tasks according to two different criteria: how important they are and how urgent they are.
Its characteristic name comes from a gentleman named Dwight Eisenhower, a high-ranking officer in the US military well known for his productivity levels. According to his matrix, you have to evaluate your tasks based on their urgency and importance to organize yourself in the best possible way.
Four scenarios, four combinations
There will be tasks that you absolutely have to do yourself and others that are important but not urgent, or urgent but not important, or…
Basically, draw two lines, one vertical and one horizontal. Write the words urgent, not urgent and important, not important. This will give you a 2×2 matrix, i.e., four squares. In this matrix, you will have the following situations:
It is important and it is urgent: aha! this will be the first task on your list, the priority one.
It is important but not urgent: great, you can plan it for later.
It is not important but it is urgent: delegate, if you have the possibility, to someone else.
It is not important nor is it urgent: wonderful, out of your list. Keep it aside for future task lists.
What are its benefits
- Saves time when classifying your tasks and ordering them
- Helps to not go through that initial overwhelm of feeling that you have a lot of work and not knowing where to start.
- Improves your productivity since it allows you time for what’s really important: doing the task
- Clears “mental spam”. When we have several things to do, we are putting our working memory to the test. This memory, also called operational, is dedicated to retaining necessary information to be able to work with it (for example, I have to do this, and this, and this…while I’m scheduling it). Basically, the matrix helps us not to overload this “mental spam”, making it easier to manage this information
- Reduces mental load: one of the worst things about having several tasks is that it adds one more task, thinking about them. This is what is called mental load. That is, in addition to having to go to the supermarket to buy water and milk, we have to think that we need to go to the supermarket to buy water and milk. Ah, and don’t forget that you have to go to the supermarket to buy water… This mental load occupies space in our brain and, therefore, diminishes our cognitive capacity. As a result, it also diminishes our productivity.
- Facilitates our organization in a group since it helps prioritize tasks according to our role.
- Reduces work stress as it facilitates organization
As a result of all these benefits, two things happen: our productivity increases, and our motivation does too. Motivation is positively affected as it increases our perceived self-efficacy. That is, we see ourselves as more effective, we feel proud, and therefore, we feel more motivated.
Are you encouraged to try this recipe for productivity?
