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Eisenhower matrix: sort your tasks by urgent and important
Sort your to-do list into do, schedule, delegate and drop with a free online Eisenhower matrix. Add tasks, move them between boxes and print the result.
My Eisenhower matrix
Do now Urgent · Important
Schedule Not urgent · Important
Delegate or shrink Urgent · Not important
Drop Not urgent · Not important
The short answer
The Eisenhower matrix sorts tasks into four boxes: urgent and important (do now), important but not urgent (schedule), urgent but not important (delegate or shorten) and neither (drop). Its main use is protecting the second box, the important work without a deadline, which people tend to push aside for urgent but smaller tasks.
The four quadrants, with examples
| Quadrant | What goes here | Examples | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Do now | Urgent and important | A deadline today, a sick child, a broken heater, a bill due tomorrow | Do it first, today |
| 2. Schedule | Important, not urgent | Exercise, studying for next month's exam, planning, a hard conversation, sleep | Put it in a specific time slot on your calendar |
| 3. Delegate or shrink | Urgent, not important | Most notifications, some meetings, other people's small requests | Hand it off, batch it or set a short time limit |
| 4. Drop | Neither | Aimless scrolling, reorganizing apps, tasks nobody will miss | Delete it, or keep it as a guilt-free break |
How to use the Eisenhower matrix in 5 steps
- Brain-dump everything. Add every task on your mind, big and small.
- Ask two questions per task. Does it have a near deadline? Does it move something that matters?
- Do quadrant 1 today. If it holds more than three tasks, some are probably not truly urgent.
- Give quadrant 2 real time slots. This is the box people skip. Book it like a meeting, or use the daily routine planner.
- Shrink 3, drop 4, repeat weekly. A 10-minute sort on Monday is enough for most weeks.
Why the important box gets ignored
Researchers call it the mere urgency effect: in experiments, people tended to pick tasks with short deadlines over tasks with bigger payoffs, even when the deadline did not matter. The matrix is a way to notice that pull. Pair it with a focus timer like the Pomodoro timer to actually start quadrant 2 tasks, and read how to prioritize when everything feels urgent.
Turn quadrant 2 into a habit
Quadrant 2 is where the goals on a vision board live: important, never urgent.
The most valuable quadrant 2 items are usually habits: exercise, reading, planning, sleep. Pick one and make it a daily step with the 30-day productivity habits plan or build a plan around your own day.
Frequently asked questions
What are the four quadrants of the Eisenhower matrix?
Do: urgent and important. Schedule: important, not urgent. Delegate: urgent, not important. Delete: neither urgent nor important. Some people name them Q1 to Q4.
What is the difference between urgent and important?
Urgent means it has a near deadline or someone is waiting. Important means it moves your goals, health, work or relationships forward. A ringing phone is urgent; a weekly workout is important.
What if I cannot delegate anything?
Then shrink those tasks instead: batch them, set a time limit or lower the standard. The point of the third box is to spend less of your best time on it.
How often should I use the matrix?
A quick sort at the start of each week and a 2-minute check each morning are enough for most people. Move each important task into a real time slot on your calendar.
Does the tool save my tasks?
Tasks stay in this browser on this device so you can come back to them. Nothing is sent to our server. Clear the list with one tap when you are done.
Sources and evidence
- Zhu, Yang and Hsee (2018): The mere urgency effect — In experiments, people tended to choose urgent tasks with short deadlines over important tasks with larger payoffs, even when the urgency was irrelevant.
- Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006): Implementation intentions and goal achievement — Deciding when and where you will act linked to better follow-through across many studies, which is why important tasks get a scheduled slot.