Welcome to the matrix
The Eisenhower matrix, that is — not the Keanu Reeves one
As much as we might wish it were otherwise, there’s far more to writing than simply putting words on a page. And it can be difficult to figure out what you should be working on at any moment, whether it’s writing or any of the other numerous associated tasks.
How do you decide?
One simple tool is the Eisenhower matrix, aka, the time matrix, the time management matrix or the urgent-important matrix.
It’s named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States — though he didn’t invent it. But he did a lot of other things, such as starting the interstate highway system and founding NASA — and he inspired Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to create the matrix.
The matrix has two columns: urgent and not urgent. And there are two rows: important and not important. Urgent and important items are things that you do. Urgent and non-important tasks are ones you delegate. Non-urgent but important tasks are scheduled. And non-urgent, non-important items are supposedly time-sucking distractions you should avoid.
It seems simple. Especially if you assume that what you should be working on is everything in the urgent-important quadrant. But in practice, it’s a bit more complex.
For one, you may not be able to delegate something, especially if you’re working on your own. You might find some solutions in apps, scheduling or hiring help, but sometimes you’re the only one who can do the thing. Busy work isn’t fun, but it still needs to get done.
Then there’s the urgency trap, outlined nicely at ToDoIst. You can get so caught up in the urgent-important quadrant that you don’t leave enough time for the non-urgent but important tasks. And those can include things like strategic planning and professional development that you need in order to make the big stuff happen.
And those non-urgent, non-important items can actually be really important for creatives. That’s because we need inspiration, and we’re not going to find that in crossing off items on our to-do lists. I took inspiration from Marvel movies, for instance, when setting up the Climate Change Chronicles at Science News Explores. The mystery novel I’m planning started taking shape in my brain after I watched a series of TikToks. And sometimes you need to lose yourself in a cozy video game to decompress after writing a particularly hard piece.
All that said, the matrix method can help provide some insight into your to-do list. And it’s worth giving it a try.
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Next time: Making plans isn’t that hard.
— Sarah
P.S. If you’ve got a question, comment or idea for a future newsletter, please email me at sciwriter.sarah@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you. And if someone forwarded this to you (hint, hint), check out my first post and what you can expect from The Systematic Scribe.