Urgent vs. Important: Can You Live the Difference?

The above matrix is often referred to as the Eisenhower matrix, named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, who attributed it to a former college President.  The college President apparently said, “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”

The matrix is frequently used in business to help leaders determine how best to allocate their time.

Dr. Stephen Covey observed that leaders tend to be driven/organized by what’s urgent, instead of what’s important.
If you ask leaders to do a quick gut check, they’ll confirm that.  Their days are filled with emails, texts, Teams messages, superfluous meetings, etc. at the expense of more meaningful work, the important work.
The solution of course is to “create” the time for important work via a combination of prioritization, triage, delegation and coaching.

As popular as the Urgent/Important matrix is in business, it’s equally–if not more–valuable in your personal life.
 
Do a quick gut check: How much of your time is spent on things that feel urgent, but aren’t important?
What gets lost in the process?
Are you giving your time to what truly matters, or are you just staying busy?
By constantly staying busy, we give ourselves the illusion we’re productive, that we’re doing meaningful things.
But often, we’re just keeping ourself distracted.  Distracted from actually doing what’s important in our life.

Here’s a quick exercise:
Think of all the things in your personal life that consume your time.
Where do they fit in the Urgent / Important matrix?
I think you’ll find that many fit in the Urgent column, irrespective of their level of Importance.
Now think of all the Important things you will get to “when I have the time”.
Where do they fit?
If you’re like most people, they’re in the Important but Not Urgent quadrant, the quadrant that’s easily ignored.

Life will always get in the way of your focusing on the Important.
But remember, how we live our days is how we live our life.