Mastering Task Prioritization With A Deeper Dive Into Urgency, Importance And The Unknown.

Making decisions can be tricky. We often have many tasks to do and need a way to decide what to tackle first. The Eisenhower Matrix is a tool that can help. It asks us to divide our tasks based on how urgent and important they are. This way, we can focus on what truly needs our attention.

Understanding the Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix has four boxes. Tasks are either:

1. Urgent and important

2. Not urgent but important

3. Urgent but not important

4. Neither urgent nor important

By placing tasks in these boxes, we can see what we should do now, what we can plan for later, what we can delegate, and what we might not need to do at all.

Decision Quality is Not Just About the Outcome

Michelle Florendo has a vital point to make about decisions. She says, "The quality of the decision is separate from the quality of the outcome." What does this mean for the Eisenhower Matrix? It means that just because a task in the 'urgent and important' box was completed and had a good result doesn't mean it was the best decision to do it first.

When using the Eisenhower Matrix, think about the decision to place a task in a box, not just the result of the task.

Adding More to the Matrix: The "Interesting" Tasks

The Eisenhower Matrix is simple, but can we add more to it? Michelle gives us a hint. She talks about tasks that are "interesting." These are tasks that might not be urgent or important but are still worth looking at.

Every now and then, look at tasks that are in the 'neither urgent nor important' box. Some might be 'interesting' and might give a fresh way to solve a problem or create something new.

Breaking Down Decisions Further

Michelle offers a deeper way to look at decisions. She talks about three parts:

1. What we want from the task (preferences).

2. The ways we can do the task (options).

3. The details we have about how each option might work (information).

Using these parts can give more depth to the Eisenhower Matrix. For example, for a task in the 'urgent and important' box, ask:

• What is the goal of this task?

• What are the different ways to do it?

• What details are there about each way?

Before starting a task from the Eisenhower Matrix, use Michelle's three parts to get a clear picture of the task.

Dealing with the Unknown in Decisions

A challenge in making decisions is dealing with what we don't know. Michelle says it's normal to feel uneasy about what we don't know. When using the Eisenhower Matrix, this unease can come up, especially for tasks in the 'urgent and important' box.

Michelle gives a way to handle this. She talks about separating what can be known from what can't. This means looking at what details are available and what details will remain unknown no matter what.

For tasks where there's a lot of unknown, figure out what can be known and what can't. For what can be known, think about if it's worth the time and effort to find out. For what can't be known, think about if it's still worth doing the task without that detail.

Wrapping Up the Journey

The Eisenhower Matrix is a useful tool. It helps decide what tasks to do based on how urgent and important they are. But using insights from Michelle Florendo can make it even better.

By understanding that decision quality is not just about outcomes, by adding the idea of "interesting" tasks, by breaking down decisions into preferences, options, and information, and by learning to handle the unknown, the Eisenhower Matrix becomes a more powerful tool. It can guide not just what tasks to do, but also how to think about those tasks and how to do them well.