Clarity Tools: Eisenhower Box

Some of the tools in this series might be difficult to visualize in your mind, so I’ve put together examples of each tool that you can use in your context on my website. Head to mcurtis.co/clarity to find worksheets for each tool as each episode is released.

What is the Eisenhower Box?

A simple structure that helps you understand the urgency and importance of each task on your listThe basic analysis is broken into four categories Urgent and Important: Stuff you should get done right awayNot urgent and Important: Great stuff to get done, but you have some time to accomplish it.Urgent and Not Important: This stuff is stressful–there is a lot of pressure with these projects, but they aren’t as important as others may make them out to be.Not Urgent and Not Important: These are just plain old time wasters. 

What does the Eisenhower Box do?

The Eisenhower Box helps you understand reality. When we have a lot on our plate, we begin to feel like everything is a crisis. The reality is that it isn’t. And that’s what this tool helps us see. It helps us course correct our emotional response to our workload.

What does the Eisenhower Box not do?

The Eisenhower Box doesn’t actually do any of the work for us, sadly. It just helps us know what is important. 

Let’s walk through the sample Eisenhower Box together

ContextHigh production life as a graphic designer in a churchProjects coming in all the time - some last minute, some not. No constant turnaround timesThe world begins to blur at this point, and the weight of the design load can lead to burnout.

This tool works at every level of the organization. When I say to myself “I feel so busy right now”, that’s the trigger for me to pull this out. The same goes when someone says they are feeling overwhelmed. Great. Let’s assess reality together.