Eisenhower
Matrix

ADHD Executive Function Tools

A decision framework for sorting tasks by urgency and importance —
so attention goes where it actually matters.

Where This Tool Helps

The Eisenhower Matrix divides tasks into four quadrants based on two axes: how urgent something is, and how important it is. Most people can explain this framework in thirty seconds. Fewer actually use it consistently, because the sorting itself requires a judgment call that ADHD makes harder.

The pattern with ADHD is consistent: the Do Now quadrant fills up fast, the Schedule quadrant stays nearly empty, and the Delete quadrant is where things go to be “considered” rather than actually cut. The Delegate quadrant often sits blank — not because there is nothing to delegate, but because the friction of delegating can feel like more work than just doing it.

What the matrix reveals is not just where your tasks live — it is where your attention has been going. A Do Now quadrant packed with reactive tasks and a Schedule quadrant that has been empty for weeks is a different problem than a Do Now quadrant full of genuinely critical work. Both look busy. Only one is strategic.

Reference: How the quadrants work

Urgent Not Urgent
Important
Do Now
Deadlines, emergencies, critical deliverables
Schedule
Strategic planning, professional development, relationship-building
Not Important
Delegate
Routine requests, some emails, coordination tasks
Delete
Low-value time drains, optional commitments that add little
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How to Use This Worksheet

The steps below are designed to get tasks onto the page and into the right quadrants — and to surface the sorting instincts that tend to put everything in Do Now.

How to Use This Worksheet

  1. Start with a brain dump, not the matrix. Write down everything currently on your task list — work and personal — before you try to sort anything. Sorting while generating is the fastest way to put everything in Do Now by default.
  2. Sort by importance first, then urgency. Ask “would this matter if the deadline disappeared?” before asking “is this due soon?” Most people do it in reverse and overweight urgency.
  3. Be honest about the Delete quadrant. If something has been in your system for three weeks without moving, it probably belongs there. Some things need to be cut, not scheduled.
  4. Look at the Delegate quadrant last. For each item there, name one specific person who could own it. Delegation without a name attached stays in the box.
  5. Use this weekly. The matrix is a snapshot, not a permanent record. What belongs in Do Now changes. Review and resort at the start of each week.
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Eisenhower Matrix

Urgent
Not Urgent
Important
Do Now
Schedule
Not Important
Delegate
Delete
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Before Your Next Session

Bring your completed matrix to coaching. These questions are worth sitting with first.

Now that you can see it:

Look at your Do Now quadrant. How many of those tasks are there because they are genuinely critical — and how many are there because urgency is easier to respond to than importance?

What is sitting in your Schedule quadrant that has been there for more than two weeks? What has been getting in the way of it?

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