1 Simple Framework For Deciding How To Be Productive Each Day (And Not Just Busy)

Every day, our attention is pulled in hundreds of conflicting directions making it feel like we'll never have enough time to get to everything.

All aspects of our lives demand our attention, whether things we want to do or feel like we have to do. A full time job, side hustle, friends, family, hobbies, or all of the above feel like they fracture our attention. The reality is we'll never have time for it all and have to consciously decide what we should do.

But how to decide?

The Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix is a formalized version of Dwight D. Eisenhower's "do, decide, delegate, delete" framework for making decisions on tasks.

The Matrix is broken down into 2 columns (urgent and non-urgent) and 2 rows (important and non-important) where every task goes into a cell that's a combo of the 2. For Important items, Eisenhower would Do important and urgent items and Decide when to do important and non-urgent items. For Non-Important items, he would Delegate the non-important and urgent items and Delete the non-important and non-urgent items.

This decision matrix has helped me identify what I needed to focus on, what can wait, and what can get archived.

Using The Matrix For Busy Days

A full-time job is especially demanding for how many items others would have us believe are important and urgent.

Our collective internal filters need some scrubbing because a vast majority of work items might be urgent or important, but rarely both (despite constant Teams and Slack messages to the contrary). Managers have it a little easier because they have teams of people they can delegate the urgent, non-important items to and schedule our the non-urgent, important ones when things are less busy. Individual contributors are more constrained by their management, but can play a big role in helping communicate their thoughts on timing upward for backing (especially in groups with effective and supportive management).

Regardless of your level role, communication within your team is important to collectively decide what the team has to get done now, what can really wait a few days, and what shouldn't be on your plate at all.

Using The Matrix For Notion

Fortunately, we have much more control of all the other areas of our lives, specifically within our project and task management system (which I use Notion for).

All my tasks go to my Inbox first so they can be put on the calendar, flagged, and assigned to projects. All important items get a due date with urgent items also getting flagged (and a sooner due date). Urgent and not important items get a due date without a flag, but anything non-urgent, non-important gets archived (not deleted in case it comes back up so it can be revived if necessary).

While it's not necessary to create the matrix exactly in Notion, your Field Notes, or any other task management platform, it is extremely helpful to help think through as your organizing your day.