Hacking Eisenhower Matrix
20 Dec 2025The Eisenhower Matrix is one of those productivity tools everyone knows. It’s neat, simple, and widely taught.
The matrix sorts work along two axes: Urgency and Importance. In theory, that should be enough. In practice, it ignores one variable that tends to dominate real life:
How much effort does the task actually take?
A task that is both Urgent and Important might be a five-minute phone call, or it might be a five-hour deep dive requiring absolute silence, focus and uninterrupted time. The matrix treats them as equals. Your brain does not.
After repeatedly failing to “use the matrix correctly”, I stopped trying to change my brain and decided to change the model instead. 🙂
I added a third dimension: Effort.
The Problem with a Flat Model
The classic Eisenhower Matrix assumes that everything inside a quadrant is roughly comparable. If something is urgent and important, the advice is binary: Do it first.
That advice breaks down quickly. Productivity has no silver bullets, and one-size-fits-all models tend to fall apart as soon as they meet real humans with fluctuating energy, attention, and constraints.
If your Do First quadrant contains both call the plumber and restructure the annual budget, the model gives you no help in deciding which to tackle when your energy is low, fragmented, or already spent.
The model fails because it assumes stable capacity throughout the day. Humans don’t work that way.
By adding effort — High vs Low — the matrix stops being a static square and becomes a decision tool that adapts to your current state.
The Effort-Adjusted Matrix
Urgency and importance still matter. I didn’t remove them, but I added a third filtering question:
How hard is this to start and sustain right now?
Once you apply that filter, you’ll start to see much clearer patterns.
1. Quick Wins
(High Importance · High Urgency · Low Effort)
Time-sensitive, meaningful tasks that require little cognitive load. Completing them early reduces background noise and creates momentum.
2. Deep Work
(High Importance · High Urgency · High Effort)
This is the danger zone.
High-impact tasks that demand sustained focus and mental clarity. These are poorly suited for fragmented time and benefit from deliberate scheduling during high-energy periods.
3. Productive Maintenance
(High Importance · Low Urgency · Low Effort)
Important but non-urgent tasks with a low activation threshold. Useful for maintaining progress during low-energy phases without forcing deep focus.
The Missing Signal: Energy
The shift came from paying attention to my energy level.
I started noticing patterns. If my energy had been sliding for hours, forcing myself into a “high effort” task rarely ended well, even if it was technically urgent and important.
Urgency should not override capacity.
When I respect that constraint, I can make steady progress on demanding tasks without overspending my energy.
The Real Barrier: Activation Energy
For many people the biggest blocker isn’t importance, nor urgency.
It’s activation energy.
When effort is made explicit:
- Low-effort tasks feel approachable rather than overwhelming
- High-effort work can be deferred without guilt on low-capacity days
- Plans reflect reality instead of best-case assumptions
The result is less paralysis, fewer false starts, and a better match between intention and action.
Closing Thought
Productivity isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing the right thing at the right time, given your actual capacity.
The Eisenhower Matrix was designed for clarity of command. An effort-adjusted version is designed for lived reality.
The Ilseon model:
- Urgency: how soon it matters
- Importance: how much it matters
- Effort: what it costs to execute
Add the third dimension, and the model begins to reflect how work actually gets done.
Try Ilseon
It’s free, open source, and designed around a simple idea: finding clarity and stillness in the face of chaos.