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The Eisenhower Matrix

2018-09-04 · letter vlog · John · 3:43 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life · mode: Advice & reviews

Stressed by urgent demands that crowd out his novel, John explains the Eisenhower Matrix (do the urgent and important, delegate or automate the urgent, drop the unimportant unless you love it, schedule the important but not urgent), notes humans do the same with climate change, and argues life is about fulfillment, not efficiency.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John's urgent problems crowd out the important but not urgent, like his novel; humans do the same with climate change

  • ★★ John is a little stressed at the moment and so has been thinking about the Eisenhower Matrix. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John's many urgent problems include getting his kids to school, Crash Course script deadlines, emails marked urgent and an urgent desire to eat several times a day. (playful) — 00:00:07 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ Urgent problems are so numerous and immediate that John finds it really hard to find time for things that are important but not urgent. — 00:00:20
  • ★★★ John's biggest important but not urgent task is writing a novel, his top sanity strategy and his job, yet he forsakes it for the urgent until it becomes late-night dread. — 00:00:35
  • ★★★ John thinks humans broadly are much better at addressing emergencies like disease outbreaks or natural disasters than ongoing problems that don't feel like emergencies. (hedged) — 00:01:05
  • ★★★ The obvious example is climate change, maybe the biggest problem facing humans, yet constantly deprioritized in favor of breaking news. (hedged) — 00:01:15 · climate change

00:01:27 — The Eisenhower Matrix's quadrants; room for joy in productivity

  • ★★ The Eisenhower Matrix, also called the Eisenhower Square or Box, is named for US general and president Dwight D. Eisenhower and sorts fixable problems by importance and urgency. — 00:01:30
  • ★★★ Things both urgent and important you do now, like a kitchen fire or, John jokes, an AFC Wimbledon match to be watched live with complete focus. (playful) — 00:01:44 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★★ Urgent but unimportant tasks should be delegated, easy for a general but hard for most; we can still ignore faux-urgent demands like push notifications and automate some, like paying bills online. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Unimportant, unurgent things should be skipped, for John every minute on Twitter; but Twitter makes many people happy and we must leave room for happiness. (playful) — 00:02:15 · Twitter
  • ★★★ Productivity talk lacks joy: life is not about becoming the most efficient value-creation machine but also fulfillment and enjoyment, so unimportant things you love aren't unimportant. (hedged) — 00:02:30

00:02:55 — Schedule the important but not urgent; John's novels and parents; nothing but time; sign-off

  • ★★★ For important but not urgent things (a will, a novel, exercise, loved ones) the matrix says schedule uninterrupted time: put it on the calendar, create deadlines, make it urgent. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ John wrote his first novel with self-set deadlines and scheduled nights and weekends, and will write his next that way, if there is a next one. (hedged) — 00:03:08
  • ★★ John's parents introduced him to the strategy as a kid; he has found it very helpful though hard to implement minute by minute, and will keep trying. — 00:03:18 · Mike Green, Sydney Green
  • ★★★ A much busier friend told John 'I've got nothing but time', and he realized how true that is. — 00:03:30

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description adds that productivity need not be about work or maximizing output; to John it is mostly recognizing that time is what we have. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Eisenhower Matrix

Also: AFC Wimbledon · climate change · Crash Course · Happiness · Mike Green · productivity · Sydney Green · Twitter

Only in the description or credits: Dwight D. Eisenhower

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