Free Eisenhower matrix (ADHD-friendly)
Quick answer: paste your to-do list and answer two quick questions per task (is there a real deadline in the next 48 hours, and does it matter?). Each task lands in one of four boxes: do first, schedule, delegate or shrink, or drop or park. The ADHD tweaks: "do first" is capped at 3, "schedule" tasks get real dates, and you can send today's plan to the free visual day planner. Free, no sign-up, nothing leaves your browser.
A fee, a missed deadline, someone blocked. "It feels loud" doesn't count.
Or put it straight in:
2. Your matrix
Do firstUrgent and important
Max 3. Start the one due soonest, today.
ScheduleImportant, not urgent
Give each one a date. Do one every day.
Delegate or shrinkUrgent, not important
Hand it off, automate it, or do the 5-minute version.
Drop or parkNot urgent, not important
Park it on a 'not now' list. That's allowed.
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The four boxes, ADHD-style
The classic Eisenhower matrix sorts tasks by urgent and important. Here's what each box means and the rule that keeps it from turning into another overwhelming list.
Do first (Urgent and important)
Real deadline or consequence in the next 48 hours, and it matters. Cap this box at 3 so it stays doable, and start with the one due soonest.
Schedule (Important, not urgent)
Matters, but nothing blows up this week. This is the box ADHD brains skip until it turns into an emergency, so give every item a date and put one of them into today.
Delegate or shrink (Urgent, not important)
Someone wants it soon, but it doesn't move anything you care about. Hand it off, automate it, batch it, or do the smallest acceptable version.
Drop or park (Not urgent, not important)
Neither. Delete it, or park it on a 'not now' list so your brain stops carrying it.
Is the Eisenhower matrix good for ADHD?
It can be, but the plain version has a catch: when your brain treats every ping as an emergency, everything lands in "do first" and the matrix becomes one more list you can't face. Three tweaks make it work better:
- Replace the gut feeling with a test. "Urgent" here means something bad actually happens if it isn't done in the next 48 hours. A message arriving doesn't make it urgent.
- Cap "do first" at 3. If more land there, keep the 3 due soonest and give the rest a date.
- Give "schedule" a calendar, not a wish. Important-but-not-urgent tasks (health, planning, relationships, the project due in a month) are the ones that quietly become emergencies. Each gets a date, and one gets a slot today.
There's research behind the first tweak. In five experiments, Zhu, Yang and Hsee found a mere urgency effect: people chose tasks that only looked urgent (for example, an illusion of expiring soon) over tasks with objectively bigger payoffs, as if urgency had its own appeal (Journal of Consumer Research, 2018). That study wasn't about ADHD, but it shows why "how urgent does this feel?" is a poor sorting question for anyone.
Eisenhower matrix examples
| 🔥 Do first | 📅 Schedule | 🤝 Delegate or shrink | 🅿️ Drop or park | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work | Fix the bug blocking a client launch tomorrow | Prepare next quarter's plan | Reply to a meeting invite that doesn't need you | Reorganise your desktop folders |
| Home | Pay the bill due tomorrow | Book the GP or dentist check-up | Answer the group chat about the weekend | Scroll the sale emails |
| Study | Submit the assignment due tonight | Start revising for exams in 5 weeks | Fill in a club survey due today | Redo your notes in nicer colours |
Where the Eisenhower matrix comes from
In an August 1954 speech at Northwestern University, President Dwight D. Eisenhower quoted "a former college president": "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent." (American Presidency Project). He didn't claim the line as his own (Quote Investigator), and there's no record of him drawing the grid. The four-box version was popularised by Stephen Covey's 1989 book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which calls it the time management matrix and names Quadrant II (important, not urgent) "the heart of effective personal management" (FranklinCovey).
Free printable Eisenhower matrix (PDF)
A one-page Eisenhower matrix template with the four boxes, the 48-hour test and the ADHD rules. Print a few and keep them on your desk. Free for personal, classroom and client use. Prefer a spreadsheet? Sort your list above and press Download CSV to open it in Excel or Google Sheets.
Download A4 PDF Download US Letter PDFDo it with AI instead
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. If you've added tasks above, the copy button fills in your list for you.
Sort my to-do list into an Eisenhower matrix, ADHD-friendly. For each task ask yourself: is there a real deadline or consequence in the next 48 hours (urgent)? Does it matter for a goal, a person or a responsibility I care about (important)? Then give me 4 short lists: DO FIRST (max 3, soonest due first), SCHEDULE (suggest a day for each), DELEGATE OR SHRINK (say who or the 5-minute version), DROP OR PARK. Don't let everything be urgent: if more than 3 land in Do first, move the rest to Schedule with a date. Finish with the one task I should start in the next 10 minutes. My list: [PASTE YOUR LIST]
More free tools for deciding what to do
- What should I do next?: too many tasks? It picks one for right now
- Visual day planner: turn today's "do first" into colour blocks with now and next
- Task Breaker: a "do first" task too big to start? Get a 3-step start
- Procrastination test: if the same task keeps sliding, find out why
- Time estimate calculator: how long will "do first" actually take?
- Make a decision fast with AI
- All free ADHD tools
FAQ
What is the Eisenhower matrix?
It's a 2 × 2 grid for sorting tasks by two questions: is it urgent, and is it important? That gives four boxes: do first (urgent and important), schedule (important, not urgent), delegate (urgent, not important) and drop (neither). It's also called the Eisenhower box, the urgent-important matrix or a priority matrix.
Is the Eisenhower matrix good for ADHD?
It can be, with two tweaks. ADHD brains often feel everything as urgent, so the plain version tends to put the whole list in 'do first'. This version replaces the gut feeling with a concrete 48-hour test and caps 'do first' at 3. And it gives the 'schedule' box real dates, because important-but-not-urgent tasks are the ones that slip until they become emergencies.
How do I decide if a task is urgent?
Ask: does something bad actually happen if this isn't done in the next 48 hours? A fee, a missed deadline, someone blocked, a real consequence. If the answer is 'it just feels loud' or 'someone sent a message', it isn't urgent. Feeling urgent and being urgent aren't the same thing, and research on the mere urgency effect suggests people prioritise urgent-looking tasks even when the important one pays off more.
What if I have no one to delegate to?
Most people don't have an assistant. For the 'delegate' box, delegate to a system instead: automate it (autopay, a calendar reminder, a template reply), batch all of them into one 20-minute slot, or do the smallest acceptable version. AI can draft the reply or the form for you.
What's the difference between the Eisenhower matrix and the Covey matrix?
They're the same grid. Stephen Covey's 1989 book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People calls it the time management matrix and numbers the boxes as Quadrants I to IV. Covey's emphasis is Quadrant II (important, not urgent), which he calls the heart of effective personal management. That's the 'schedule' box here.
Did Eisenhower invent the Eisenhower matrix?
Not as a grid, as far as the record shows. In a 1954 speech Dwight D. Eisenhower quoted an unnamed former college president: 'I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.' The four-box matrix named after him was popularised later, notably by Covey.
Is there a free Eisenhower matrix template or PDF?
Yes. There's a free one-page printable PDF (A4 and US Letter) with the four boxes, the 48-hour test and the ADHD rules. The online tool also downloads your sorted list as a CSV file that opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.
Is my list stored or sent anywhere?
No. The matrix runs in your browser. Your list is saved only in this browser's local storage so it's there when you come back, and the share link holds the list inside the link itself. Nothing is sent to us.
General productivity information, not medical advice. Disclaimer.