How I use the Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple 2×2 grid that separates tasks into four quadrants, with simple heuristics:

• Important & Urgent – Do these immediately.
• Important, Not Urgent – Schedule time to work on them.
• Not Important, Urgent – Delegate if possible.
• Not Important, Not Urgent – Eliminate entirely.

It feels a bit old-fashioned, like something dug up from a dusty corporate workshop. As a “modern” startup CEO, I always frowned upon these artifacts. But I have found the matrix to incredibly effective in one particular use case.

Important & Urgent is the place were little startups go to die

The top two main quadrants, Important & Urgent and Important, Not Urgent both hold the word “important” in them, but this is misleading. After all, only one thing should be “important”. If everything is important, nothing truly is.

The secret is to understand that the items in Important & Urgent are the poison of your business and minimize them. I’m not saying they can’t exist, but they should be always kept to a minimum, and should be the exception, not the rule.

If you’re constantly overwhelmed with Important & Urgent tasks, you’re likely stuck in crisis mode — reacting instead of planning — which causes stress, poor decisions, and leaves little time for prevention. The key is to address immediate urgencies, then prioritize Important, Not Urgent work. These tasks, like strategic planning, skill growth, and relationship building, are the most valuable long-term because they prevent future emergencies and create lasting success.

A framework for growth

I use this Eisenhower matrix in the following way: any items that are “important and urgent” are an alarm to work on something long term (“Important, Not Urgent”). They must be resolved immediately, after all, they’re both “important AND urgent’. But this shouldn’t be taken lightly. It should be dealt with NOW, but prevented in the future.

The key is to understand why these urgent tasks are happening and try to find a common pattern which will become an action item for the future, in the “Important Not Urgent” side.

My goal as a startup leader is to stay on top of ONLY “Important Not Urgent” tasks. People can come to me to resolve Urgent things, but those shouldn’t be my top priority.