Written by Ellie Chen, Marketing Intern
Our lives, both inside and outside of work, are made up of choices.
As we navigate our working lives, many of us will often fall into routines and patterns that dictate our momentum, productivity, and outputs. But how often do we pause for self-reflection, and actively assess our patterns of working?
Working well relies on a sequence of well-chosen decisions. These decisions will coordinate our priorities, our actions, and our journey to outcomes. Essentially, decisions form the foundation of all our attempts to fulfil our aims. So…let’s make more effective ones!
What drives decision-making?
‘The Mere Urgency Effect’ (2018), published under the Journal of Consumer Research, highlighted that people are usually more driven by the urgency of a task, over its importance. According to this study, people tend to work by focusing their attention on tasks that are time-sensitive but less important, over tasks with less urgency but greater reward.
This may sound familiar to you. If this is the case, then you share this scenario with Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States. Eisenhower was once quoted saying, "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent."
How should we actually approach decision-making?
The Eisenhower Matrix is a highly useful approach for making decisions. It is used to overcome the tendency to steer towards mere urgency because it factors in the importance of a task along with its urgency. Think of it as a how-to guide for prioritisation and mastering productivity.
How does The Eisenhower Matrix work?
Start by assessing whether something is more urgent, or more important.
But of course, nothing in real terms is ever distinctly one or another.
Keep in mind tasks that are both urgent and important - these are the tasks to do first.
Whilst organising your workload, make sure that the decisions you make closely align with these four steps:
What can The Eisenhower Matrix do for me?
By taking this time to pause, reflect, and adjust your decision-making, you will soon find that the time and effort you put into your workload is far more generative towards the outcomes that you seek.
Put simply: choose better, work better
