Ditching the Eisenhower Matrix

I’ve used the Eisenhower Matrix as my main decision-making framework for over a decade.

But I’m moving on because it no longer works for me.

The Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix suggests two factors for decision-making: Urgent and Important.

Why it doesn’t work for me

• The urgent factor creates urgency and lands me in a negative emotional state. (That’s not a good place to begin).
• Importance is too ambiguous as a factor. (More on this below).
• I rarely think about quadrants 3 and 4 as they’re not important, so they’re not worth my time!?

The Ambiguity of Importance

Importance is ambiguous because its factor composition changes depending on who’s holding the throne.

• To a go-getter, getting results is more important
• To a hard worker, working hard is more important
• To a lazy person, resting might be more important

So unless I wake up on the same side of the bed every single time, it’s gonna be difficult to prioritize what’s “important”.

Now, importance also fails as a factor if all items are equally important. For example:

• Health is important
• Family is important
• Work is important

It’s not useful to ask a person to prioritize items in these categories based on importance, because, well, they’re all important!

7 Factors

Instead of fretting about urgency or importance, I’m beginning to make choices based on these seven factors:

1. Time-sensitivity
2. Moving the needle-ness
3. Healing factor
4. Gap to completion
5. Space creation factor
6. Capability increase factor
7. Resonance factor

I don’t score these factors. (Doing that would be too rigid and slow). So I just hold these factors in mind as I choose what I’d do next.

Time-sensitivity

Certain things need to be done within a certain timeframe for them to be effective or useful.

Time sensitivity accounts for those things.

Moving the needle-ness

I use my gut to feel how much an item moves the entire project forward. Things that don’t move the needle is placed lower in priority.

Healing factor

Healing is important because I will not be able to perform at my best if I’m injured.

And we’re all injured in some way — physically, emotionally, intellectually, etc.

Sometimes healing is about picking myself up from where I’ve fallen (or given up before). Sometimes it’s about giving myself sufficient space or time to rest. Sometimes, it’s about doing things that I’m scared of doing.

As I heal, I notice my performance increases, and the amount of noise in my head, my heart, and my body reduces. And this helps me make better choices.

Gap to completion

When a project gets closer to completion, it often becomes harder for me because:

• Sometimes I don’t want things to end
• Sometimes the last 20% takes 80% of the effort
• Sometimes I feel the urge to rush to complete

Holding this factor in mind allows me to consider the impact of such emotions — like whether I’m resisting or rushing — so I’m more grounded and make lesser blunders.

Space Creation Factor

I feel lighter and more joyful when I have sufficient space to breathe. In that state, I often complete things faster and in a light-hearted way.

So the amount of space I perceive I have plays an important role in both speed and quality of my output — especially for tasks related to communication (like writing this post!).

This also helps me thread the fine line between eustress and distress if I’m in a lousy state.

Generally:

• Completing tasks free up space
• Starting projects reduces space
• Deadlines and agreements with people reduce space as well

Capability Increase Factor

Things that increase my capability down the road increase in priority as a factor. The rationale here is quite straightforward: I’d be able to do more things with less energy/time later.

So examples here are:

• Reading books: because they help me see from different perspectives.
• Exercising: because it leads to a healthier body with more energy.
• Learning new skills, like video-making and making art, because they enrich my life and they may be useful in many areas.

I know I won’t do these things if I don’t include capability increment as a factor. (Then I’d spend all my time working on the never-ending todo-list and make myself miserable in the process, which is a sad way to live 😢).

Resonance Factor

This helps me check whether something feels right or not.

Over the years, I’ve learned to trust my inner wisdom more than before. So if something feels wrong, I listen to my inner wisdom and try to hear what they’re saying.

Then I act accordingly.

The Next Evolution

I discovered a different way of thinking (hence, working) as I was researching about space and time for the Space Creation factor.

That comes from a General Relativity perspective instead of the Newtonian perspective that we’re conditioned to use.

And I’m already seeing how this change in perspective makes things easier. But that’s going to take a while to explain, so I’ll expand on that at a future date.