The Eisenhower Matrix--Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important
Some things in our lives need
immediate attention and are of great value to our lives. These Urgent and Important items are the
things that belong in the upper left quadrant, Q1. Things in Q1 can’t be ignored or put off;
they must be addressed right away or there will be dire consequences. Often, the things that belong in Q1 are
crisis management items and they can happen in both personal and professional
areas of life. Whether it’s the serious
illness of a loved one, the loss of an important employee, or smoke coming from
under the hood as you drive to work, Urgent and Important things demand your
time now. In the course of your workday, Q1 items may
include answering important emails, attending an important meeting, making a
short-term decision, and returning certain phone calls. These are things you must do.
Already, you can begin to see
the slippery slope, can’t you? How do
you decide which meeting or phone call or email is urgent and important? Someone wants something from you right away,
so how can you decide that he or she isn’t “important?” Remember, Q1 can be thought of as the “crisis
quadrant,” the place reserved for things that have both high immedicacy and
significant value. Things that don’t
have both of these qualities don’t belong in Q1.
Many responsible people spend
most of their lives in Q1, running from fire to fire, always reacting but
rarely getting ahead of their work or their time. To be sure some jobs are designed to live in Q1,
but even firefighters and paramedics don’t spend all their time with lights and
sirens on. So, how can you move some of
that work out of Q1 and into the other quadrants? Check out the next installment of this blog!
Next time: Q2 Important and
Not Urgent: Where the Magic Happens
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