The matrix is the foundation of my project, and of the paper you’re reading now. As you see, it’s a tool for discerning between importance and urgency. When I stumbled upon it a while back, I realised that it was the element I was missing in structuring my project. It added a lot of direction to the work, and this is why Eisenhower on Drums has become the title.
The four quadrants:
Quadrant 4 - Not important and not urgent.
This is where most of us find ourselves when we’re loosing focus. We can have a lot of fun in this zone, but in a perspective of development, whether artistic, personal or spiritual, we are often wasting our time in Q4, doing things like watching Free Willy - behind the scenes, buying guitar equipment that won’t make us play any better, masturbating, etc.
Quadrant 3 - Urgent, but not important.
Many of us, I’m afraid, live entire professional lives in Q3. This is where, out of a sense of urgency, we check our email 20 times daily, and when we finally get mail, we spend an entire afternoon writing the response. Quadrant 3 activities often times work as a trap, feeding off of our proud sense of responsibility. We can’t keep people waiting, can’t have unpaid bills in the drawer or unwashed pants lying around.
Quadrant 1 - Things important and urgent.
There’s a deadline for it, and you’re improving yourself and your future doing it. This is the zone you’re in when you’re working on a project that feels meaningful. This paper is written mainly in Q1.
Quadrant 2 - In this rare space, things are important in the bigger perspective, but there’s no sense of urgency. This is where I really want to be, where innovative work is done. And it’s the most difficult place to stay. It’s all about “what would I really like to be doing in three years”. What questions should I really be asking myself right now? This is where you put in the ‘pondering time’ that John Cleese is talking about in this brilliant lecture on creativity. It’s about looking at things with open eyes: How are my patterns operating? How does this affect myself and others? And it’s the only place where play is a possibility as a way of growing. All this is not urgent, but it’s super important and very often, Q2 matters are neglected in the lives of a lot of people, including myself.
Here’s Dwight Eisenhower’s guide to each of the quadrants:
Q1 - Do it now
Q2 - Decide when to do it
Q3 - Delegate it
Q4 - Delete it
And here is my guide to myself regarding the quadrants:
Q1 - Do it now, or decide when to do it
Q2 - Do it every day
Q3 - Decide when to do it, and do it fast and efficiently
Q4 - Do it for fun, or as a reward, or as a way of tricking yourself into Q2
This report should make it clear why my own guide differs from Eisenhower’s.
I’ll be using the matrix in walking you through the project, starting in Q1, moving on to 2, 3 and 4.
The important quadrants Q1 and Q2 are the only two you must read, and if you get bored, you may take a detour in Q4 and read about unimportant and non-urgent aspects that might be more fun.
I will begin each section with briefly asking:
Why is this important / not important?
Why is this urgent / not urgent?
Lastly, a note to the reader - If you’re hired by the conservatory to read this report and assess it together with my concert, you may find yourself in quadrant 3 while spending time with me here. If you find that this is the case, I hope you will consider switching your mode to Q1, and I look forward to your feedback as to how your’e getting yourself into Q2, and whether this project has any relevance for you in that respect.
