The Eisenhower Matrix: prioritize tasks by urgency and importance

The Eisenhower Matrix is a time management tool that helps you prioritize tasks by urgency and importance. It sorts out the less urgent and important tasks, which you should either delegate or not spend much time on.

Every task answers two questions: is it important, and is it urgent? The answers put it into one of four quadrants, and each quadrant tells you what to do with the task. Use it to manage your tasks effectively and focus on what truly matters.

• Do First

  Important & urgent

  Tasks that need your immediate attention.

  e.g. Server is down, tax return due tomorrow

• Schedule

  Important, not urgent

  Tasks that move your goals forward. Plan a time for them.

  e.g. Exercise, learn a new skill, plan next quarter

• Delegate

  Not important, urgent

  Tasks that need doing soon but not by you. Hand them off.

  e.g. Book the flights, answer routine emails, most meetings

• Eliminate

  Not important, not urgent

  Tasks that aren't worth your time. Drop them.

  e.g. Endless scrolling, reorganizing files nobody opens

Keep the balance: watch that Do First doesn't grow and Schedule doesn't run empty. A full Do First means you are putting out fires; time spent on Schedule is what keeps them from starting.

• To add a task, click empty space in a quadrant or the + in its title, or press N or 1–4: a field opens at the end of the quadrant. Enter adds the task and keeps the field open for the next one, Esc closes it. For a deadline, use the New task button, which opens the full form. The digits stand for the quadrants: 1 for Do First, 2 for Schedule, 3 for Delegate, 4 for Eliminate.
• Click or tap a task to select it. To clear the selection, click it again, click any empty spot on the page, press the × in the action panel or press Esc.
• While a task is selected, the action panel at the bottom of the window shows what you can do with it: Complete, Edit, Move to one of the other quadrants, Deadline and Delete. Edit and Deadline turn the panel itself into a text field or deadline choices, with no window on top. After Complete, Delete or Move, the next task in the quadrant is selected, so you can keep going.
• Changed your mind? Press Undo in the message that follows an action, or Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac).
• Drag a task to reorder or move it; long-press on touch.
• Completed tasks are listed below the matrix, where you can restore them or delete them permanently.
• Switch between the matrix and a single list with the button at the top of the page.

On a phone

• All four quadrants fit on one screen. Tap a quadrant's title to open it full screen, and Back to matrix to see all four again.
• Tap a task to select it. The panel at the bottom of the screen has Complete, Edit and Delete, under them the deadline, and Move to, laid out as a small matrix: tap the quadrant the task should go to. Tap the × next to the task's text, the task again or any empty spot to close the panel.
• To drag a task, press and hold it until it lifts, then move it to another place or quadrant.

Keyboard

The whole matrix is one Tab stop: Tab takes you to the task you last selected, or to the first one; in an empty matrix, to the button that adds a task in Do First. From there the keys below work. In the app, press ? to see them.

Choosing a deadline

No sign-up: tasks stay in this browser; sign in with Google to sync.