Eisenhower Matrix and Inspiration

This is the Eisenhower Matrix, it’s a decision matrix to help people make choices about things they have to or want to or get to do;

The Eisenhower Matrix;	It is Urgent	It’s Not Urgent
It is Important	Do It	Plan or Schedule it, and table it for later
It is Not important	Delegate, have someone assist in accomplishing it	Table it for much later for when it comes important or urgent.

The Idea of Urgency is that there is a timeline, it has to be done by a certain time frame. Maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe RIGHT NOW. Whatever the case, ensure you prioritize the urgency and ensure it gets done.

The Importance factor is something that’s hard to measure and it’s different for everyone. For me, personally, I look at important things as things that would pay dividends and give me the best ROI or Return on Investment. Making a blog post that will last for five plus years is more important to me than watching a movie with friends. Of course you have to balance the friendships and relationships, you have to have a self-care routine to ensure you’re not falling apart as you’re doing the work. So make sure you prioritize the importance of your health, mental, physical, spiritual, and relationships as well.

Another importance factor is if I can save time or money in the long run. If I am able to make my productivity increase by writing a more detailed plan or taking better notes, then I’ll do that. If I can reduce overhead and costs while ensuring maximum benefits to employees and morale, then I’ll do that.

If something is important and urgent, then Do it.

If it can’t wait, then it’s definitely urgent, you should do it. Like using the bathroom, it’s important because it’s self care, and if you don’t urgently relieve yourself, you’ll have a lot more to clean up and that’s going to take away from your comfort, your time, and your work. Other important and urgent things can include medical issues, or a PR blunder that needs an immediate and thought out response. Being silent isn’t always something that’ll get you ahead.

Another concept is the ability to move important and urgent things to not important and urgent things, if you have a lot of things you have to do that are important, then start doing them. If there’s still too much, then down grade when you need, and prioritize the most important and most urgent things. Typically for me, Urgency trumps Importance, so if I have a limited time frame, I usually stick to those as the things I need to work on over all else. Speed here is critical, and it’s the key too.

If it’s Urgent and not important, Delegate

Then have someone delegate. Allow for someone else to do it, or find time to do it on some time that you have free. You can hire other people or ask a friend for a favor depending on what it is. It’s very rare to have urgent things that are not important, because if there is a temporal need to accomplish, then it should be important. So chances are, depending on what it is, you can probably lump it up with another task. Even in business, you should not urgent non-important things. If you’re a Managing director and you’re telling your interns to make 50 stacks of analytical papers that no one (including you) will read by the end of the week. Then you could probably refocus on actual important things.

If it’s not urgent, but important, Plan

Then make a plan and see what you can do later. If it’s truly important, then you don’t want to mess it up. Do it right and perfect and maybe it’ll bring more returns or more gains from doing it right. So plan, schedule it in, and make sure you follow through.

If you’re free and have more time on your hands, you can also upgrade this to the important and urgent square. So you can upgrade this and do it then and there.

Not Urgent, Not Important, Table it

Most Eisenhower matrixes out there have people delete or eliminate non-urgent or non-important things, I think that’s a wrong way to look at it because everything is connected. We’re all a part of the deal.

So it’s best to minimize the resources going into something, but there’s no need to eliminate it from existence or to limit your own potentiality. One day, that small negligible thing, might be important or urgent.

It’s in your best interest to table it for much later, maybe even years from now. Maybe it’s an idea for some project unrelated to what you do, but you talk to someone at a party or mixer and they are the perfect person to carry out that idea. You could collaborate or help out, and drive people to succeed.

Something negligible and small to you, might be exactly what someone else needs. So try not to eliminate or delete these things. They exist and happened upon you for a reason, just gotta find out what that reason is. Since it’s not urgent, there’s no rush.

Some notes on Inspiration,

When you get an idea, some wind in your sails, a breath of fresh air, you might get inspired to do something.

Which begs the questions;

If you’re inspired to do many things,
And since Inspiration is perishable,
Then how do you know which inspirations you should entertain?

And the answer that I’ve come to with some guidance is;

Do the inspirational thing with the most resounding FUCK YES.

If you don’t know where to start, start with the thing that has the most emotion, motion, passion, feelings, or excitement. The thing that you feel in love with or are moved by. That’s the priority of things you should consider doing.

Because when you get to a certain point, you’ll see that there will be a lot of things that are urgent and important.

Another tip,

If you don’t have a lot of inspiration on your plate, you can decide to discover new things by exploring or reading a book or seeing new sights for inspiration. Even a nice fireside chat or talking over a cup of coffee can help you be inspired to do more or see more.

If you don’t have more inspiration after trying any of those, then try looking into what you don’t like. Your shadow. Take a look at the world, the injustice, the suffering, maybe even in your own life, and ask yourself what you’d do to help change it and make it slightly better with long lasting changes?

What is something you wish to see in the world? That you want to see more of in the world? Is it taco trucks? Do you like tacos? You could start a taco truck! Or whatever it is that you would desire more of.

And who knows, maybe that’ll align you to more inspirations and hopes. The world is a big playground, you just gotta find the game that you want to play. If it’s not made yet, then why not make it yourself?

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re probably right.

Epilogue,

This is just a bit of a ramble on finding inspiration and tackling it. The Eisenhower matrix is a good tool for workplace productivity, and also for creatives that like making things.

Me personally, I like the things that pay the most dividends, even if I’m not the one collecting. So when I write, I write to the level of entertainment and knowledge for a future version of me, and I post online and publically, so that it may help others that are also looking for similar guidance.

In a way, I’m helping myself and others, as I work out these thoughts that others (and my future self) will undoubtably have at some point. That’s the most important thing for me, it’s a journey, and even though I’m writing alone, I’m not reading alone.

Cheers you little Cosmic horror you, 😀