We’ve all got too much to do and not enough time to do it in.
Which is why just working off your task manager’s default list of things you “need” to do today doesn’t work. It’s too much; we can’t do it all.
Something has to give.
In this post, I want to share a new twist on a classic productivity framework to help you do more of what really matters.
The Problem With The Eisenhower Matrix
One of my favorite quotes comes from former President Dwight Eisenhower, who once said:
“What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.
Using this quote, we can break down everything that we need to do into one of four categories:
- Things that are both important and urgent
- Things that are important but not urgent
- Things that are urgent but not important
- Things that are neither important nor urgent
You can visualize this in a 2x2 grid that looks like this:
The point? Not all actions are equal.
So if we truly want to be productive (which I would define as following through on our intentions), we need to be able to decide what box something belongs in (and how much attention it really deserves).
The first quadrant we should pay attention to is pretty clear: it’s the one that contains the things that are both important AND urgent. We don’t need any help making sure these things get done, as there’s usually some pretty serious negative ramifications if we don’t.
Where things get complicated is where we focus next.
None of us would intentionally choose the things that are urgent but not important (quadrant 3) over the things that are important but not urgent (quadrant 2). We understand conceptually that the little things we do consistently lead to the long-term results we’re after.
The problem? In the busyness of the day-to-day, urgency often masquerades as importance.
So, how do we make sure we see things clearly? And how can we create the motivation to consistently take action on the things that are important?
The Eisenhower Matrix + The PKM Stack
The secret to doing more of what matters is living in alignment with your vision and values.
This is the top level of the PKM Stack, a framework that helps clarify what’s not important so you can take action on the things that are.
Clarity comes when you get clear on your vision & values. This Identity acts as a filter to help you avoid the things that aren’t important and focus on the things that are.
In other words, the things that are important are the things that connect to our vision & values.
Using this definition as the foundation, we can combine the PKM Stack with the Eisenhower Matrix to get a system for taking consistent action on those things that are important.
The Actions level of the PKM Stack can be broken into four categories:
- One-off tasks
- Multi-step projects
- Individual habits
- Bundled routines
The one thing that they all have in common is that they are Important (aligned with our vision & values).
Both tasks and projects are time-sensitive (they have to be done within a window of time), while habits and routines are not (they just need to be done consistently).
So if we redefine Urgent as Time-Sensitive, we can slot these into the Eisenhower Matrix like so:
Everything else that doesn’t align with your vision and values falls into the bottom half of this matrix (it’s not important).
And once we get clear on what’s really important, it becomes a lot easier to block time for the things we really need to get done.
