Everyone has only 24 hours a day to live and each person chooses different ways of living. Some people use those 24 hours to do the work of a senior administrator while still ensuring time for themselves, but there are also individuals who feel that 24 hours is not enough for them. Looking at the facts, you probably aren't that busy, you just haven't managed your time effectively. Most people know that time management is crucial to success, but not everyone can control it. That makes it almost impossible for them to complete the plan they have set out despite their best efforts. So how do you handle these jobs to complete in the most optimal time? 

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​said to be an effective strategy to help you identify what matters most and optimize your time efficiently. Let's take a closer look at this matrix.

 According to Eisenhower, in order to be able to use time effectively with the highest productivity, we must spend time on important things (Important) and not on urgent things (Urgent). You should remember that “Important things are often less urgent and urgent things are rarely important”. To do this as well as reduce the pressure of having too much work to complete with a short time, the Critical - Urgent Model will help you quite a lot.

The Eisenhower Matrix is as follows:

The tasks in this category force you to do it right away because they are both important and urgent.

Unpredictable times: Urgent meetings, work emails related to important projects, conflicts with customers, car breakdowns, etc.

Predict when to happen: Company anniversary, wedding day, birthday…

Backlogs due to habit of procrastination: Schedule to send work reports, compose presentations...

For those who work with customers, jobs that are classified in group P1 such as a customer you are taking care of have a need and need information urgently the next day. It can be said that "customer is king" is always true and applied to all service and customer service people.

P2 does not require immediate action (not urgent) but you must do it all because they are important. Spend more time on this item.

We often put important but non-urgent tasks on the sidelines of our lives and say to ourselves, “I will do them someday, after taking care of all the urgent things.” We even procrastinate figuring out what is most important to us. This often repeats as a cycle in which you only deal with the urgent tasks at the top of the list. For example, building processes and work instructions for internal when approaching customers. This is important but not urgent work, as it is considered long-term and requires more time.

To solve this problem, you need to lead your life in a proactive way: “I will make time for these things no matter what.”

What characterizes the jobs in this group is that they're not meant to accomplish your goals, only they're urgent.

People often spend most of their time on these things because they think they are important. In fact, if you pay close attention, you will realize that they do not serve your own goals, much less help you to improve. In the long run, you will feel tired and exhausted when you have to spend so much “downtime” on these activities. More seriously, it even makes you psychologically dissatisfied and annoyed with others

For example, someone asks you to buy things, invite customers for coffee because they are in the meeting room; Calls from relatives who have not seen for a long time or messages from friends,...

The best way is to solve this job as quickly as possible or you can delegate it to others and learn how to "Say No" with the tasks in this P3 group when there is not too much time for important work. 

The tasks in this P4 group you should spend the minimum time because they really do not bring significant benefit or value.

For example, surfing Facebook, watching comedy videos, movies, breaking news or gossip, etc. Ask yourself, are you spending a lot of time in this work group? And it's best to resolutely switch to another job to avoid wasting time!

How to allocate time in accordance with the levels of the Eisenhower matrix:

P1: ~15% – 20%

P2: ~60% – 65%

P3: ~10% – 15%

P4: < 5%

The Eisenhower Matrix is ​​a time management method that works well for people who have goals but never achieve because they don't have enough time. With Eisenhower, you'll learn how to re-evaluate your priorities. Also learn to focus on what's more important than the fake urgency. You'll never have to strain yourself to deal with a mess again.