Eisenhower matrix
What it means
The Eisenhower matrix is a prioritisation tool that sorts tasks with two questions: is it urgent, and is it important? That gives four boxes: urgent and important (do it now), important but not urgent (schedule it), urgent but not important (delegate or batch it), and neither (drop it). It is named after US President Dwight Eisenhower, who is credited with the distinction.
How to use it
The most valuable box is the second one: important but not urgent, such as health, planning and relationships. Those tasks never shout, so give them a date and time or they will wait forever.
Try it: what you write, what LifeOS does
- “wednesday at 6pm book the annual checkup” → An important, not urgent task gets a real slot: an appointment on Wednesday at 18:00 with a reminder.