Abe Jarjoura D.D.S., M.S.

“I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

I am very busy! My life is full! Sometimes, the number of things that I have to do in a day could be overwhelming causing me to stop in my tracks and do nothing for a period of time. I don’t really have to mention the negative effect that would have on my productivity and attainment of any goals. Talk about sapping energy and reducing fulfillment.

Should I call the airline to schedule my flight? should I answer my emails? Which emails should I answer? How about writing the article or recording the video to send to the team? Should I workout? Should I cook dinner? Should I sort through the junk mail? and on, and on, and on……….

I remember complaining to a friend and business coach of mine about the “lack of time” available to accomplish all that I wanted to accomplish. You know the ” joke” that we need 25 hours in the day. He said: ” Do you know how many things the president of the United States has to accomplish in a day?” ” Do you think you have more to accomplish than he does?” My answer was ” no, of course.” He retorted sarcastically ” you know he also only has 24 hours per day.”

Sticking with the president of the United States, let me tell you about one who accomplished enough for three life times- Dwight Eisenhower.

Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, serving two terms from 1953 to 1961. During his time in office, he launched programs that directly led to the development of the Interstate Highway System in the United States, the launch of the internet (DARPA), the exploration of space (NASA), and the peaceful use of alternative energy sources (Atomic Energy Act).

Before becoming president, Eisenhower was a five-star general in the United States Army, served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, and was responsible for planning and executing invasions of North Africa, France, and Germany. At other points along the way, he served as President of Columbia University, became the first Supreme Commander of NATO, and somehow found time to pursue hobbies like golfing and oil painting.

He had a productivity strategy that became known as the Eisenhower Box (or Eisenhower Matrix) and it’s a simple decision-making tool that we can all use.

Similar to Eisenhower, we can divide our tasks into four different priority categories as follows:

1. Important – urgent = Do it now

2. Important – not urgent = Decide a time to do it

3. Urgent – not important = Delegate it

4. Not urgent – not important = Delete it

Obviously, this is a great visual organizing tool that allows us to assign priority to tasks and action before us so that we can accomplish an ever increasing number of IMPORTANT tasks.

However, in my opinion, the most important quadrant of this matrix is the one on the lower right side- DELETE!

“There is no code faster than no code.”

Kevlin Henney

That was a quote about computer coding basically stating that having a computer read a line of code would always be slower than not having code at all. In other words, the fastest way to do something is not to do something at all.

Of course, that is not to say that being lazy is the best path to take. All it says is that instead of getting bogged down in tasks, regardless of their effect on whatever outcome we seek, we should learn how to eliminate the ones that have little or no effect. The more we are able to delete off of our plate, the more energy we can devote to the tasks that get us results and the quicker we can attain our goals.

 The Eisenhower Matrix isn’t a perfect strategy, but It can be a useful decision-making tool for increasing one’s productivity and eliminating the behaviors that take up mental energy, waste time, and rarely move anyone toward their goals.

I hope you’ll find the Eisenhower matrix a useful tool to add to your productivity tool box allowing you to constantly accomplish tasks that move you ever closer to attaining your goals.

Abe Jarjoura D.D.S., M.S.

Founder: Dental Care Team Group

Founder: Control “Freaks”- A Group for Dentists who Want to Smile More

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dentistscontrol