PARADOXMental model
Eisenhower Matrix template
Sort everything by impact and urgency, then find the one thing that makes the rest easier.
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What is the Eisenhower Matrix?
The Eisenhower Matrix sorts every task by two questions: is it urgent, and is it important? That gives four boxes: do it now, schedule it, delegate it, or drop it. PARADOX adds a fifth box, the one thing, so you leave with a single next move instead of a sorted list.
When to use it
- Your to-do list is long and everything feels urgent
- You keep doing busy work instead of the important work
- You need to decide what to hand off or drop this week
How the template works
Do now
High impact and urgent. You do it, today.
Schedule
High impact, not urgent. Book it or it never happens.
Delegate
Urgent but low impact. Who else can carry it?
Drop
Low impact, not urgent. Let it go without guilt.
The one thing
Which DO NOW item makes the rest easier?
What you leave with
A clear split of what to do now, schedule, hand off and drop, plus the one thing that makes the rest easier.
More mental models
SWOT analysis
Map what helps and hurts you, inside and out, then make the four boxes talk to each other.
First principles thinking
Strip a goal, problem or skill down to what must be true, then rebuild from those pieces only.
OODA loop
See it, make sense of it, choose, act, and go round again before the situation changes.
Circle of competence
Map your edge, the edge of your competence, and what is not your thing. Then move one thing inward.
Debrief
Take a finished task, project or goal apart: what you meant, what happened, why, and one change.
Brain dump
Get everything out of your head onto one page, then map it into a chart or a model.