OnSumoTools

Eisenhower Priority Matrix

Sort tasks by urgency and importance, drag between quadrants, and export your board.

Add task

Quadrant labels

No active tasks on the board.

Do First

Urgent + Important

0 active
  • No tasks

Schedule

Not urgent + Important

0 active
  • No tasks

Delegate

Urgent + Not important

0 active
  • No tasks

Eliminate

Not urgent + Not important

0 active
  • No tasks

Tasks are stored in your browser only. Export CSV before clearing site data or switching devices.

How does the Eisenhower Matrix work step by step?

Add a task, assign it to a quadrant, and it appears on the board as a card. Drag it between quadrants when its status changes. Check it off when done. The board persists in browser storage.

What does a typical Eisenhower Matrix result look like?

Suppose you have these four items on your mind: "Prepare board presentation due tomorrow", Q1 (urgent + important) "Read industry report to inform next quarter's strategy", Q2 (not urgent + important) "Reply to a colleague's question about the office coffee machine", Q3 (urgent + not important) "Clean up old files on your laptop", Q4 (not urgent + not important) Adding these to the matrix makes the right action clear: do the presentation today, schedule time for the report this week, send a quic

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Frequently asked questions

  • What is the Eisenhower Matrix?

    The Eisenhower Matrix (also called the Urgent-Important Matrix) is a decision framework that sorts tasks into four quadrants based on urgency and importance. It was attributed to President Dwight Eisenhower and popularized in Stephen Covey's book \\\"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.\\\" Review this figure each week to see whether your actual usage matches your plan.

  • What goes in Q2 (not urgent, important)?

    Q2 is where sustained high performance comes from: strategic planning, professional development, exercise, proactive relationship-building, and prevention work. These tasks rarely feel urgent, so they get displaced by Q1 and Q3 unless scheduled deliberately. The matrix makes Q2 visible so it does not disappear under the urgency of the day.

  • How is Q3 different from Q1?

    Both feel urgent, someone is waiting, a notification fired, a meeting is starting. The difference is importance. Q1 tasks drive your actual goals or prevent real consequences. Q3 tasks are urgent to someone else or create the feeling of urgency without contributing to your core objectives. Distinguishing them requires honest evaluation of whose priorities are actually being served.

  • Should I delete Q4 tasks immediately?

    That is the point of Q4 (Eliminate). If a task is neither urgent nor important, the most productive action is to remove it rather than carry it forward indefinitely. If you cannot bring yourself to delete it, move it out of Q4, the act of placing it there and then keeping it is a signal that it actually belongs in Q2 or Q3.

  • Can I rename the quadrant labels?

    Yes. Each quadrant label (Do First, Schedule, Delegate, Eliminate) is editable to match your team's terminology. Some people use \\\"Crisis / Deep Work / Interruptions / Ignore\\\" or other systems. The labels change on the board and in the CSV export.

  • Can multiple people use the same board?

    The board is stored in your browser's local storage, which is private to your device and browser. It is not shared or synced across devices. For shared team task boards, use the CSV export to share snapshots.

Sort your to-do list by what matters

A long list of tasks all looks equally urgent. The Eisenhower matrix cuts through that. It sorts every task by two questions: is it urgent, and is it important? The method is named after US president Dwight Eisenhower, who is said to have organised his work this way.

Add your tasks to the board and drag them into one of four boxes. You can rename the boxes, export the list to CSV and print the board.

The four quadrants

Q1 is urgent and important. Do these now. A server outage or a deadline today. Q2 is important but not urgent. Schedule these. Planning, learning, exercise, relationships. This is where long-term results come from.

Q3 is urgent but not important. Delegate if you can. Many emails, some calls and most interruptions. Q4 is neither. Drop it. Mindless scrolling and busywork live here.

  • Q1: do it now
  • Q2: schedule it
  • Q3: delegate or limit it
  • Q4: delete it

The trap of Q3

Urgent things feel important because they shout. A ping, a request, a call. Most of them belong to someone else's priorities. Moving tasks out of Q3 frees time for Q2, and that's where the useful work gets done.

If your Q1 is always full, you're probably neglecting Q2, so problems arrive as emergencies. Plan ahead to shrink Q1.

Using the board

Do a quick review each morning or the night before. Limit Q1 to a handful of items. Put dates on Q2 tasks so they don't slide. Review Q4 and actually delete things, without guilt.

The board lives in your browser, so it's private to you. If you need to share it, export to CSV or print it. It isn't designed for team editing.

Filling the board, step by step

Dump everything on your mind into one list first. Don't judge. Then take each item and ask two questions. Does it need to happen soon? Does it move something I care about? Two yeses means Q1, do it now. Important without a clock goes to Q2, so give it a date.

Urgent but not important is Q3. A ping from a colleague, a routine report, a meeting you were invited to out of habit. Hand it off, shorten it or say no. The rest, Q4, is plain noise. Delete it and feel lighter.

Keep the board small. If Q1 has twenty items, you're not prioritizing, you're panicking. Ten items total is a good ceiling for one day.

A day in the life

Picture a freelancer on a Tuesday. A client emergency is Q1. Writing a proposal for a new client is Q2, because it pays off later. Replying to a group chat is Q3. Scrolling news is Q4.

The pull of Q1 and Q3 is strong because they scream. Q2 stays quiet, so it loses unless you protect it. Block an hour on your calendar and treat it like an appointment.

Check the board each morning and again after lunch. Move things as the day changes.

When the matrix doesn't fit

It's a sorting aid, not a scheduler. It won't tell you how long a task takes or what depends on what. Use it to decide, then move chosen tasks onto a calendar.

Teams can use it too, but agree what 'important' means first. If everyone defines it differently, you end up arguing about boxes instead of work.

Review weekly. If Q1 is always full, ask what upstream habit keeps creating fires.