Project template
Eisenhower matrix template: sort your to-do list into do, schedule, hand off and drop
Do now, schedule, hand off or drop: four sections with worked examples, and a Monday task to re-sort the lot.
- 5 sections
- 8 tasks
- Opens as a list
- Dated from day 1
Eisenhower matrix
Days count from the day you start. In the app, pick a start or a finish date and each task lands on a real day.
- List everything on your plate, then sort it belowDay 1High
Do now: urgent and important
- Example: reply to the client complaintDay 1Urgent
- Example: submit the tax filing due FridayFridayUrgent
Schedule: important, not urgent
- Example: plan next quarter's goalsDay 8High
- Example: book the health screeningDay 15High
Hand off: urgent, not important
- Example: reschedule the supplier meeting
Drop: neither
- Example: reorganise old email folders
Routine
- Re-sort the matrixEvery Monday 8:30
What's in it
Urgent work shouts and important work waits quietly, so most days go to the loud things. The matrix asks two questions of every task and puts it in one of four sections. The aim is to spend more time in Schedule, the important work with no deadline yet.
- Do now
- Urgent and important. The examples: a complaint to answer and a tax filing due Friday.
- Schedule
- Important, not urgent. Each task gets a date, so it doesn't wait forever.
- Hand off
- Urgent, not important. Someone else can do it, or it can be moved.
- Drop
- Neither. Delete these at the end of the week.
- Monday re-sort
- Fifteen minutes every Monday at 8:30 to sort the week's new tasks.
Tips from the template
- Important means it moves a goal forward. Urgent means it has a near deadline.
- Give every task in Schedule a date.
- Be honest with Drop. Delete those tasks at the end of the week.
How to use it in Palby Planner
- 1Open Tasks and choose Templates.
- 2Find Eisenhower matrix and open it. You see every section and task before anything is added.
- 3Pick the day you start, or the day it has to be done by. Every date moves with it.
- 4Press Use template. Rename the project, then work down the list.
More ways to sort a long list
One list sorted by when: today, this week, later, and what you are waiting on, with the three that matter today flagged.
5 sections, 10 tasksEmpty your head onto one list in ten minutes, then sort it: today, this week, calls, errands, ideas, and what is on your mind.
7 sections, 10 tasksThe lists the GTD method runs on: inbox, next actions by context, waiting for, projects, someday, and the weekly review.
6 sections, 15 tasksPick the hardest task the night before and do it first thing, before email, every working day.
3 sections, 7 tasksList every promise you carry at work and at home, then decide for each: keep it, renegotiate it, or drop it.
7 sections, 14 tasksA personal kanban board: to do, doing with a limit of three, done. See your work and stop starting new things.
4 sections, 5 tasks
Questions
Do now (urgent and important), schedule (important, not urgent), hand off (urgent, not important) and drop (neither). The template has one section for each.
Important moves one of your goals forward. Urgent has a near deadline or someone waiting. A task can be both, one, or neither.
Into Schedule: the important work with no deadline yet. That's the part urgent jobs push out, so every task in it gets a date.
Once a week. The template's Monday task does it in fifteen minutes, and tasks move between sections as their deadlines get closer.
Yes. Print prints only the template, and Copy puts it on your clipboard as a checklist. Neither needs an account.
Make time for the important work.
Book a walkthrough to see the matrix in the planner.