The Eisenhower Matrix

Is it the wrong way round?


Maybe it's a data analyst thing, but I can't help but think that the Eisenhower Matrix is the wrong way round.


The Eisenhower Matrix
Sorry, Ike, but I think you've maybe got 'Urgent' and 'Not urgent' the wrong way round.

If I'm trying to use this for time management, and I score (on a scale from 1 to 10) each of the things on my to-do list with an 'urgency score' and an 'importance score', then something that's really urgent and really important will get 10 and 10. So that item should go in the top right of the matrix...

...except, no: that item needs to go in the top *left* of the matrix.

Why would 'more urgent' be on the left, and 'less urgent' on the right?

And is it OK to flip the x-axis labels, or would that be too disrespectful to Eisenhower?

[13 September 2024]