As students, you get a lot of tasks thrown at you all at once and it can be challenging to juggle them all! One minute it’s the summer holidays with no worries or care in the world and next week you have homework, essays, revision, and that group presentation you need to prepare for. You may find yourself rushing around, jumping from task to task. The question to ask yourself is, are you being productive or are you just busy? When you have a lot on your plate, you may start to feel overwhelmed. The good news is that with a positive mindset and the right tools, you can reduce stress and easily manage your workload – You’ll be back on track in no time!
Former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, ‘I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.’ He created a technique to help organise and prioritise tasks called the Eisenhower Method. It involves using a grid to break down the tasks on your to-do list into four categories. The idea is to help you get organised and relieve any stress you are feeling. When you realise that some of those tasks can be unloaded or scheduled for a later day, you’ll be able to focus on what matters now! This technique is perfect for students, but it can also be applied anywhere, from work to personal life.
Normally when people feel overwhelmed, they struggle to think rationally about their workload. Everything feels like it has to be done straight away. The problem is that “If everything is urgent nothing is urgent!” Without taking a step back, getting organised and prioritising your tasks, it’s hard to make real progress. Understanding the difference between urgency and importance is a game-changer.
If something is important, then it’s also urgent, right? Wrong! Well, sort of. Urgent means that something needs to be done NOW, or before an approaching deadline. These tasks usually have consequences when not met. For example, an essay that’s due in tomorrow is an urgent task and the consequence of not doing would be that it affects your grade. A task like studying for an exam a year away is not urgent compared to other tasks, so that would fall under important but not urgent.
The Eisenhower Matrix works by breaking down your tasks into four categories. Start by writing down your to-do list. Once you have done this, you can reflect on each of the individual tasks and decide which of the following headings they should go under.
The task is urgent and important, so it needs to be done. Initially, you may find you have filled this box the most with tasks, which is fine! But consider how important and urgent the tasks are. Remember, you want to relieve stress and manage everything so reserve this box for stuff that really needs to get done!
It’s important but not urgent, so it can be worked on over a long period. You may notice the bigger tasks and goals in this section and that is because you have time! This will likely be the overall coursework that you can do bit by bit rather than rush in one afternoon. It’s still as important as the ‘Do’ section, just not as needed at this time.
Not as important but still urgent? Delegate! But how does that work for students? If you are working on a group project with a due date, extra bits needing doing can be delegated to fellow students. You can also ask teachers, friends, parents, or guardians for support. The delegate section is for urgent tasks, but you don’t necessarily need to do them yourself, anyone can!
The best part, delete all the tasks that are not important or urgent! You might be hesitant at first, so instead consider it as putting those tasks on the back burner. You have other tasks that require your attention, and unfortunately, you can only give it so much. But it doesn’t mean you can’t go back to them in the future!
If you want to have a go, check out our latest Toolbox Tool, the Eis Matrix worksheet! You can download your free copy today.
Whenever the tasks pile up and the due dates loom, remember to take the time to think about what is urgent and what is important. Sometimes it can be good to get all your thoughts and concerns onto paper. Then, you can step back and see the bigger picture in clear detail.
If that is something you are interested in, check out our book; How to Bullet Journal: Or Bujo for Short. An easy-to-use guide to help you start journaling quickly and effectively. By filling out the prompts and organising your tasks, you’ll be able to easily manage your daily life and schoolwork!
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