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Old September 18, 2020, 08:20 PM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is offline
Onwards and upwards!
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,358
Default Getting back on my feet - with the Eisenhower matrix...

I've been hit pretty hard business-productivity-wise with the arrival of a newborn baby (the first child for my wife and me!), and the pandemic doesn't help either...

(One thing the pandemic means is we have virtually zero help, because we are supposed to socially distance ourselves with everyone outside of our immediate household... With no possible help from friends and family, it means the newborn baby is even MORE work than normal... and a newborn is a lot of work!)

I feel like I'm starting to get back on my feet now...

I've been helped by the "Eisenhower matrix"...

You've probably seen it before. It was a decision tool used by President Eisenhower...



Every task on your "To Do" list can be categorized into one of the four boxes... Based on how "Urgent" and "Important" it is. (How to tell if something is "urgent" and/or "important" a little later...)

Then, you only DO the "important" tasks. The "unimportant" tasks get delegated or deleted...

I've found these two articles helpful...

How to be More Productive and Eliminate Time Wasting Activities by Using the “Eisenhower Box”
https://jamesclear.com/eisenhower-box

That made clear the connection between Importance/Urgency with Do/Decide/Delegate/Delete...

I also found this explanation - on the difference between "Importance" and "Urgency" - very useful...
"Urgent tasks are things that you feel like you need to react to: emails, phone calls, texts, news stories. Meanwhile, in the words of Brett McKay, "Important tasks are things that contribute to our long-term mission, values, and goals.'"
I also found this helpful too...

Stop wasting time being productive, become effective instead
https://aliyarhussain.com/stop-wasti...ctive-instead/

I'm using his very useful worksheet for Google Sheets, which he links to in his article... Here the direct link to his worksheet...

http://bit.ly/2Ou8Okj

(Google Sheets is Google's free version of online spreadsheet software.)

(If you open his spreadsheet, check out the tabs at the bottom. The explanation how to use it is in the 2nd tab, and you put your "To Do" list in the 3rd tab...)

You can copy this into your own Google Sheets account (which is part of your Google / Gmail account)... If you don't have one, you have to get one to use it (it's free)...

Anyway, I'm finding this very useful in getting back on my feet... Just thought I'd share!

Best wishes,

Dien
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