Eisenhower Matrix Worksheet Overview
The Eisenhower matrix sorts your tasks by asking whether each one is urgent and whether it is important. It is named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Stephen Covey made the four-box version popular in his 1989 book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
This worksheet gives you a printable Eisenhower matrix template with examples for each box. It walks you through getting everything onto paper and sorting it, then helps you make room for things that matter but are easy to put off, like sleep and time with people you love.
In this worksheet, we’ll:
- Explain the four boxes of the Eisenhower matrix, with examples of what goes in each
- Share why urgent tasks tend to crowd out important ones
- Walk you through listing everything that is on your mind
- Give you a blank four-box template to sort your list
- Help you plan one task that looks after your health or relationships
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Eisenhower, D. D. (1954). Address at the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Evanston, Illinois, August 19, 1954. The American Presidency Project.
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Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic. Simon & Schuster.
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Zhu, M., Yang, Y., & Hsee, C. K. (2018). The mere urgency effect. Journal of Consumer Research, 45(3), 673-690.
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