Poor decision making and poor prioritization can kill you in a survival situation and frequently, at least, leads to having a person having to be rescued.

One way to prioritize is to use the “Eisenhower Decision Matrix.

The Eisenhower Decision Matrix

Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important Tasks

Quadrant 1 tasks are both urgent and important. They’re tasks that require our immediate attention and also work towards fulfilling our long-term goals and missions in life.

Quadrant 1 tasks typically consist of crises, problems, or deadlines.

Here are a few specific examples of Urgent and Important tasks:

• Certain emails (could be a job offer, an email for a new business opportunity that requires immediate action, etc.)
• Term paper deadline
• Tax deadline
• Wife in emergency room
• Car engine goes out
• Household chores
• You have a heart attack and end up in the hospital
• You get a call from your kid’s principal saying you need to come in for a meeting about his behavior

With a bit of planning and organization, many Q1 tasks can be made more efficient or even eliminated outright. For example, instead of waiting until the last minute to work on a term paper (thus turning it into an urgent task), you could schedule your time so that you’re done with your paper a week in advance. Or instead of waiting for something in your house to fall apart and need fixing, you can follow a schedule of regular maintenance.

Quadrant 2: Not Urgent but Important Tasks

Quadrant 2 tasks are the activities that don’t have a pressing deadline, but nonetheless help you achieve your important personal, school, and work goals as well as help you fulfill your overall mission as a man.

Q2 tasks are typically centered around strengthening relationships, planning for the future, and improving yourself.

Here are some specific examples of Not Urgent but Important Tasks:

• Weekly planning
• Long-term planning
• Exercising
• Family time
• Reading life-enriching books
• Journaling
• Taking a class to improve a skill
• Spending time with a rewarding hobby
• Studying
• Meditating
• Service
• Car and home maintenance
• Date night with wife
• Creating a budget and savings plan

Because Q2 activities aren’t pressing for our attention, we typically keep them forever on the backburner of our lives and tell ourselves, “I’ll get to those things ‘someday’ after I’ve taken care of this urgent stuff.” We even put off figuring out what’s most important in life, which of course only perpetuates a cycle where all we ever take care of are the most urgent to-dos on our list.

But “someday” will never come; if you’re waiting to do the important stuff until your schedule clears up a little, trust me when I say that it won’t. You’ll always feel about as busy as you are now, and if anything, life just gets busier as you get older (at least until you retire).

To overcome our inherent present-bias that prevents us from focusing on Quadrant 2 activities, we must live our lives intentionally and proactively. You can’t run your life in default mode. You have to consciously decide, “I’m going to make time for these things come hell or high water.”

Quadrant 3: Urgent and Not Important Tasks

Quadrant 3 tasks are activities that require our attention now (urgent), but don’t help us achieve our goals or fulfill our mission (not important). Most Q3 tasks are interruptions from other people and often involve helping them meet their own goals and fulfill their own priorities.

Here are some specific examples of Quadrant 3 activities:

• Phone calls
• Text messages
• Most emails (some emails could be urgent and important)
• Co-worker who comes by your desk during your prime working time to ask a favor
• Request from a former employee to write a letter of recommendation on his behalf (it’s probably important to him, but let’s face it, it’s probably not that important to you)
• Mom drops in unannounced and wants your help with a chore

Because Q3 tasks do help others out, they definitely feel important. Plus they’re also usually tangible tasks, the completion of which gives you that sense of satisfaction that comes from checking something off your list.

But while Q3 tasks may be important to others, they’re not important to you. They’re not necessarily bad, but they need to be balanced with your Q2 activities.

Otherwise, you’ll end up feeling like you’re getting a lot done from day-to-day, while eventually realizing that you’re not actually making any progress in your own long-term goals. That’s a recipe for personal frustration and resentment towards other people.

Quadrant 4: Not Urgent and Not Important Tasks

Quadrant 4 activities aren’t urgent and aren’t important. They’re what I like to call “dicking around” activities. Q4 activities aren’t pressing nor do they help you achieve long-term goals or fulfill your mission as a man. They’re primarily distractions.

Specific examples of Not Urgent and Not Important Tasks include:

• Watching TV
• Mindlessly surfing the web
• Playing video games
• Scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
• Gambling
• Shopping sprees

I think if most of us did a time audit on ourselves, we’d find that we spend an inordinate amount of time on Q4 activities. I’m sure most of us have those “I’m wasting my life” moments after we’ve spent hours surfing the web and realize we could have used that time to pursue our more ennobling life goals. No? That’s just me? Dang.

One example of each quadrant in a survival situation is as follows:

Urgent and Important: You evacuate your home because a hurricane is approaching.

Important, but not Urgent: Before you go and before traffic becomes a major obstacle, you board up your house.

Urgent but not Important: As you are leaving, you call your parents / loved ones and let them know you are leaving.

Not Urgent or Important: During the evacuation, you get the latest on your phone and the radio regarding the storm's progress.

Any of those decisions could become a major obstacle if you do not do them in the appropriate order – but by prioritizing them correctly, you get all accomplished in a manner that allows you to get out and protect your stuff, alert your family and keep abreast of the looming storm.

To learn more about decision making and decision making matrixes, check out The Art of Manliness.

Featured Image via Eisenhower