Time Management Matrix: Free Template

Effective time management is a vital skill for any employee to have. Good time management skills enable you to efficiently manage your workload, thereby improving your productivity, reducing stress and making you a more reliable employee. As with any skill, time management can be learnt and developed over time. A time management matrix is a strategic way to bolster your time management skills as it provides you with a framework for prioritising your time and tasks. 

In this article we will outline what a time management matrix is, how it can benefit you and how to effectively use and prepare one. You will also find a free downloadable time management matrix template. 

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What is a Time Management Matrix?

A time management matrix is a tool that enables you to strategically organise and prioritise different tasks. There are numerous different time management matrices, however this article will focus on the Covey Time Management Matrix. The Covey Matrix is a popular and effective method from Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The matrix divides tasks into four categories based upon their importance and urgency, enabling you to prioritise your tasks more efficiently and spend your time wisely. 

A time management matrix is just one of the many ways in which you can increase your productivity in the workplace. It can also help you to develop a growth mindset as you are better able to prioritise long-term goals and successes.  

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The 4 Quadrants of Time Management

The Covey Matrix divides tasks into four quadrants and an understanding of each one is key to the efficacy of the matrix. We will explore how to categorise tasks and the practical implementation of the Covey Matrix later in the article. 

The four quadrants of the Covey Time Management Matrix are:

Quadrant 1: Urgent and important – Q1 tasks are those that are both important in nature and require immediate attention. These tasks must be completed in a short time frame and this can make them stressful and negatively impactful on your other duties and responsibilities. These tasks often arise due to short deadlines, unforeseen emergencies or poor planning. Be mindful of these kinds of tasks and try to plan strategically to avoid having too many Q1 tasks. 

Quadrant 2: Important, but not urgent – Q2 tasks are those that are important in nature but not time-sensitive. This can make these tasks easy to avoid as they do not have the same time constraints as Q1 tasks. However, Q2 tasks can help you to achieve important long-term goals and are essential to your personal or professional growth. As such, they should be prioritised accordingly and you should aim to invest the majority of your time on Q2 tasks.  

Remember: A Q2 task can become a Q1 task if left unattended for too long; stay on top of encroaching deadlines to stop Q2 tasks from becoming unnecessarily urgent and creeping into Q1.

Quadrant 3: Urgent, but not important – Q3 tasks are time sensitive but not important. These tasks can often feel falsely important due to their urgency, however they have little impact on your larger goals. Tasks that fall into this quadrant are often more reactive than proactive and can be a distracting interruption to your productivity. 
Quadrant 4: Not urgent and not important – Q4 tasks are neither urgent nor important and should be avoided where possible as they are an inefficient use of your time. Though it may appear counterintuitive, take the time to identify these lower priority tasks so that you can minimise the number of them and instead focus on the tasks in other quadrants. 

Benefits of a Time Management Matrix

The benefits of using the Covey Matrix include:

• Increased productivity – identifying which tasks are important enables you to better focus on them, reducing the chances of you getting distracted and increasing your productivity. 

• Improved habits – assigning tasks to different quadrants allows you to see what kind of tasks you spend the majority of your time on. If you find that you are spending too much time on Q3 and Q4 tasks, you can adapt and adjust your working habits to better focus on Q2 and Q1 tasks. 

• Improved planning skills – prioritising long-term goals over immediate, less important ones improves your strategic planning skills, helping you to plan future projects and goals more efficiently. 

• Better work-life balance – developing more productive work habits makes your work day more efficient. This then gives you the freedom to focus on the things that matter to you outside of work.

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How to Prepare a Time Management Matrix

Now that you have an understanding of the different quadrants, you can develop your own matrix. 

Follow these steps to create an effective Covey Matrix:

1. Create a list of your tasks.

Start by making a comprehensive list of all your tasks and their respective deadlines, no matter how big or small. The time span that your matrix covers is up to you and could reflect your tasks for the day, the week or the month. However, each task needs to have a realistic deadline, so avoid making a list of tasks for one day if all of those tasks need to be completed that same day. 

2. Assess your tasks. 

Now that you have a list of tasks and their deadlines you need to assess their importance and urgency. This can be tricky as it is easy to see everything as important and urgent or to mistake urgency for importance. However, you need to be as objective as possible when assessing your tasks. Use the deadlines that you have included and ask yourself; Does this task align with my long-term personal/professional goals? Does this task need my immediate attention or can it wait? 

Asking yourself these questions will help you when assigning each task. For example, if the answer is yes to question one and no to question two, then the task belongs in Q2 as it is important, but not urgent. Conversely, if the answer is no to question one, but yes to question two then the task belongs in Q1.

3. Assign your tasks.

Once you have determined the importance and urgency of your tasks you can assign them to the different quadrants. It’s useful to have some level of organisation in each quadrant. For example, you could use the deadline to prioritise a tasks’ position; the closer the deadline, the higher the priority. This is admittedly easier for some quadrants than others. For example, Q2 tasks tend to be more beneficial to long-term goals, but their lack of a pressing deadline can make them hard to prioritise. In this instance it is useful to set your own benchmark of urgency and use that to assess the priority of your Q2 tasks.

When assigning tasks to the different quadrants be mindful of how many tasks are in each section. Q3 tasks may have some level of urgency, but they are ultimately not important. This can make them an inefficient use of time and energy, so attempt to minimise the number of these tasks. Comparatively, since Q2 tasks  are essential to your personal or professional goals, you should aim to spend the majority of your time on these tasks. For example, you may choose to block out time each day or week to complete these tasks so that impending deadlines don’t cause them to creep into Q1. 

4. Review and adjust your matrix.

Regardless of whether your matrix covers a day, a week or a month, it’s beneficial to take the time to review and adjust it. Reflect upon your productivity; has completing tasks based on their quadrant improved your efficiency? Have you spent enough time on Q2 tasks, or has your list of Q1 tasks grown too long? Asking yourself these questions assesses the efficacy of your matrix and allows you to adjust accordingly. This is a core part of using the matrix as it fosters a mindset of continuous improvement as well as the continued prioritisation of personal or professional goals.

Common mistakes when using the Covey Matrix include mistaking urgency for importance when categorising tasks and neglecting the tasks in Q2. These can prove to be costly errors that negatively impact the efficacy of your matrix. Take the time to step back and objectively assess the importance of a task and make a conscious effort to block out time to focus on Q2 tasks. 

You also need to remember the importance of rest breaks. The Covey Matrix does not negate the need for regular breaks to rest and recharge and if you don’t factor in adequate rest time, you may find yourself procrastinating with Q4 tasks due to tiredness and a subsequent lack of motivation. 

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Time Management Matrix Template

Below you will find a free editable time management matrix template for you to use. Download the template and follow the steps above to create an effective matrix that will help you to maximise your time and increase your productivity. 

Time Management Matrix

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There are countless demands on our time both inside and outside of work. A time management matrix is a useful tool to help you better manage your time so that you can meet these demands. With a well organised time management matrix you can say goodbye to blocking out three hours on your calendar in an attempt to power through four days worth of work and say hello to increased productivity, improved focus and reduced stress.

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Further Resources:

• A Personal Development Plan (PDP) Guide & Template
• What are Personal Development Goals for Work?
• Time Management Course