Eisenhower Matrix with Todoist

The Eisenhower Matrix method used by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower is based on the task evaluation using the criteria important/unimportant and urgent/not urgent.

This method visualizes tasks in an Eisenhower Decision Matrix (aka Eisenhower Box). The horizontal X-axis represents the level of urgency with the left side being the most urgent and the right side the least. The vertical Y-axis represents importance, with the lowest importance at the bottom, highest at the top. The result is four quadrants: Urgent and important, urgent but unimportant, important but not urgent, and unimportant and not urgent. You can place all your tasks within the boxes, giving you a clear understanding of what really needs to be done now and what can (and should) wait.

Set up an Eisenhower Matrix workflow in Todoist using labels

  1. Create two labels: @important and @urgent.
  2. Create four filters:
    • Urgent & Important with filter query: @urgent & @important
    • Important & Not urgent with filter query: @important & !@urgent
    • Urgent & Unimportant with filter query: @urgent & !@important
    • Unimportant & Not urgent with filter query: !@important & !@urgent
  3. Add the appropriate labels to each new task:
    • Add @urgent & @important to tasks that need to be done immediately and personally
    • Add @important to tasks that get a due date and are done personally
    • Add @urgent to tasks that can be delegated
    • Don't add either label to tasks that can be dropped
  4. Take on important and urgent tasks first. Add a specific due date to all your important but not urgent tasks. Delegate as many unimportant but urgent tasks as possible. Unimportant and not urgent tasks should be done last (or not at all).

Set up an Eisenhower Matrix workflow in Todoist using priorities

  1. Create four filters:
    • Urgent & Important with filter query: P1
    • Important & Not urgent with filter query: P2
    • Urgent & Unimportant with filter query: P3
    • Unimportant & Not urgent with filter query: P4
  2. Add the appropriate priorities to each new task:
    • Add P1 to tasks that need to be done immediately and personally
    • Add P2 to tasks that get a due date and are done personally
    • Add P3 to tasks that can be delegated
    • Add no priority (or P4) to tasks that can be dropped
  3. Take on P1 tasks first. Add a specific due date to all your P2 tasks. Delegate as many P3 tasks as possible. P4 tasks should be done last (or not at all).

Learn more

If you want to dive deeper to learn how to best decide which task to tackle first — and how to prioritize the rest — check out our Eisenhower Matrix productivity guide.