Eisenhower Matrix
Paste your to-do list, say whether it is urgent and whether it is important, and every task lands in the right box of the Eisenhower matrix. Drag tasks between boxes as your week changes, tick them off, and print, copy or download the result. Free, no sign-up.
Add tasks
Answer the two questions below and every line goes into the matching box. You can drag a task to another box afterwards.
Your matrixEisenhower matrix
Urgent
Not urgent
Important
Do first 0 tasks
Urgent and important: do these now.
Nothing here yet.
Schedule 0 tasks
Important, not urgent: book time for these.
Nothing here yet.
Not important
Delegate 0 tasks
Urgent, not important: hand off, or keep short.
Nothing here yet.
Eliminate 0 tasks
Neither: drop, or save for spare time.
Nothing here yet.
Your tasks are saved in this browser's local storage — nothing is uploaded. They stay on this device and browser, and clearing site data erases them.
How to Use the Eisenhower Matrix
- 1. List your tasks. Type or paste one task per line. Bullets and list numbers are removed for you.
- 2. Answer two questions. Tick urgent if the task needs attention soon or someone is waiting; tick important if it moves you toward your own goals. The line under the button tells you which box the tasks will go in.
- 3. Adjust as things change. Drag a task to another box, or use the Move menu beside it, which also works from the keyboard. Tick a task when it is done.
- 4. Take it with you. Print the matrix, copy it as text or download a .txt file.
The Four Boxes
| Box | Urgent? | Important? | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do first | Yes | Yes | Do it now, or today. Real deadlines and genuine problems. |
| Schedule | No | Yes | Put it in your calendar with a time. Long-term work, planning, studying ahead. |
| Delegate | Yes | No | Hand it off, batch it, or give it a short fixed slot. Many requests and routine messages. |
| Eliminate | No | No | Drop it, or keep it for spare minutes. Aimless scrolling and busywork. |
Other write-ups use different verbs — Do, Decide, Delegate, Delete — for the same four boxes. The labels do not matter; the two questions do. For a student, "delegate" often means ask for help, share the task in a group, or answer it in a single sitting, since few of us have someone to hand work to.
Example: a Thursday in a research week
Do first
Submit the ethics form (due Friday); send the supervisor the revised outline she asked for
Schedule
Draft the methods section; read two papers for the literature review; book a writing-centre appointment
Delegate
Reply to the group chat about the meeting time (two minutes, then close it); ask a lab-mate to re-send the dataset link
Eliminate
Reorganise the reference folders again; check the forum for new threads
Where the Matrix Comes From
Dwight D. Eisenhower never published a grid. What he did say, in an address to the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Evanston, Illinois, on 19 August 1954, was that he had two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important — and that the urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent. He credited the line to "a former college president", not to himself. The familiar "seldom" wording is a later paraphrase.
The four-box grid came afterwards. Stephen R. Covey set out a two-by-two "time management matrix" in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), where he urged readers to spend more time in the important-but-not-urgent box before it turns into a crisis. The name "Eisenhower matrix" is a modern label that links Covey's grid to Eisenhower's remark; it is a convenient name, not a historical method.
Common Mistakes
- Calling everything urgent. If the first box is overflowing, ask what actually happens if the task waits until tomorrow. If the answer is "nothing", it is not urgent.
- Confusing urgent with important. Notifications and requests are urgent because someone else set the clock. Importance comes from your goals, such as finishing a degree or learning a skill.
- Leaving the second box empty. Most meaningful work lands here, and without a scheduled time it quietly slides into the first box as a deadline.
- Treating it as a one-off. Re-sort weekly. A task in Schedule becomes Do first as its deadline approaches.
Your tasks are saved in your browser's local storage on this device. Nothing is uploaded, and clearing your browsing data deletes them, so copy or download anything you need to keep.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the Eisenhower matrix?
- A two-by-two grid for sorting tasks by two questions: is it urgent, and is it important? The answers give four boxes — do first, schedule, delegate and eliminate. It is named after Dwight D. Eisenhower because of his remark about urgent and important problems, though the grid itself was popularised later by Stephen Covey.
- Did Eisenhower invent the Eisenhower matrix?
- No. In a 1954 speech he said he had two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important, and attributed the thought to a former college president. The four-box grid appears in Covey's 1989 book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and the name "Eisenhower matrix" was attached later.
- How do I decide what is urgent and what is important?
- Urgent tasks have a near deadline or a person waiting on you. Important tasks serve your own goals and values, whether or not anyone is chasing them. A useful test for urgency is what changes if the task waits a day; for importance, whether you would be glad you had done it in a year.
- What goes in the delegate box if I have no one to delegate to?
- Urgent-but-unimportant work still needs handling. Batch it into one short session, use a template reply, ask a classmate or colleague to share it, or decline it. The aim is to stop it from taking the time your important work needs.
- Is the Eisenhower matrix backed by research?
- The sorting idea is a planning heuristic rather than a tested intervention, so treat it as a thinking aid. Its value is that it makes you choose what comes first on purpose, instead of reacting to whatever shouts loudest.
- Can I print the matrix?
- Yes. Use Print matrix; the page prints just the four boxes and the tasks in them. Finished tasks keep their strike-through, so tick them first or clear them if you want a fresh list.