How To Divide Tasks Into Important and Not Important?
Everyone knows the Eisenhower matrix distributes the tasks performed in four ways:
- urgent and important;
- not urgent, but important;
- urgent, but not important;
- not urgent and not important.
In this matrix, important tasks are of particular importance.
When setting priorities, it’s relatively easy to determine an urgent task or not an urgent one. But how to determine which task is important to you, and which is not important? To rely only on sensations, reasoning may not be enough. We can simply be mistaken in our opinion.
I think that the importance of the task is determined by the consequences of its implementation. The more serious the result from the task, the more important the task. But what are the key results?
The result of the important task:
- solves the problem;
- improves stability;
- converts;
- increases the cost;
- helps in achieving the goal.
It is necessary to solve problems. When they arise, they begin to create inconvenience in life, in work. Each problem constantly takes resources and time, reducing the effectiveness of the environment or process where it originated. The faster the problem is solved, the faster resources and time will be released to solve other problems.
The more stable the object, the process, the more it retains its useful properties in time, stably performs its functions, is less subject to the influence of external aggressive forces. Therefore, the task to increase sustainability, in fact, saves time and human resources for the future.
The transformation of an object, process, situation is not connected with the solution of the problem that has arisen. Such actions are aimed at improving the properties, making the chosen object, the process convenient, practical, simple, adapted.
You can increase the cost of the object, the process, improving it, or lowering the costs associated with it. The importance of performing such tasks is obvious, because their implementation allows nonlinearly increasing the value of the process, the object.
Achievement of a specific goal implies the mandatory performance of intermediate tasks. Without them, the goal is unattainable. Therefore, the importance of such tasks is determined by the importance of your goals.
To solve an important task or not, you need to look at the future results of its implementation. If this task solves the problem, increases the stability, converts or increases the cost of the object, the process or allows you to approach your goal, then this is an important task.
You can go from the opposite. You can plan, search for tasks, the importance of which is determined by the above results.
