Blank Eisenhower matrix PDF, US Letter

A blank Eisenhower matrix (also called an urgent-important matrix or priority matrix) to fill in by hand: four boxes, Do now, Schedule, Delegate and Delete, with 8 lines in each. One page, nothing to sign up for.

Fill it in online

Download the PDF (US Letter)

One page, 8.5 × 11 in (215.9 × 279.4 mm). Need the other size? Eisenhower matrix PDF, A4.

Preview of the blank Eisenhower matrix PDF on US Letter paper

What is on the sheet

A line for the date and a line for “The one task I will start with”.
A 2×2 grid. The columns are headed “Urgent” and “Not urgent”, the rows “Important” and “Not important”.
Each box carries its number, its action and its rule: “1. Do now” (urgent and important), “2. Schedule” (important, not urgent), “3. Delegate” (urgent, not important) and “4. Delete” (neither urgent nor important).
8 ruled lines in each box, 32 in all.
Two lines of instructions above the grid and a small credit line at the bottom.

On Letter each box is about 3.5 in wide and its lines are a little under 0.4 in apart: room for one task per line in normal handwriting.

How to print it on US Letter paper

US Letter is 8.5 × 11 in (215.9 × 279.4 mm), the standard paper size in the United States and Canada, and common in Mexico and the Philippines. The file is one portrait page with 14 mm margins, which leaves a printable area 7.4 in wide.

Open the PDF and choose Print.
Set the paper size to Letter and the scale to 100% (some print dialogs call it “Actual size”). “Fit to page” also works, but shrinks the sheet slightly.
Print in portrait. The sheet is black and white, so a mono printer or the grayscale setting is enough.

For a half-letter planner (5.5 × 8.5 in), print it at 64%. Half letter is a little taller in proportion than Letter, so the sheet fits the width and leaves a blank strip at the bottom.

If your printer holds A4 paper, use the A4 file instead. A Letter page printed on A4 paper is either scaled down or loses a strip at the side, because A4 is 6 mm narrower. Get the A4 version.

How to fill it in

List everything on your mind first, on scrap paper or the back of the sheet. Sorting is easier when you are not also trying to remember.
For each task ask two questions. Is it urgent: does it have a real deadline in the next day or two? Is it important: does it move a goal you care about, or would skipping it cost you something that matters?
Write the task in the box that matches both answers. If nearly everything lands in “Do now”, ask of each one what happens if it waits until next week, and move the ones where the answer is “nothing much”.
Give every “Schedule” task a day, and write the day next to it. This box holds the work nobody will chase you for, so it only happens with a date.
Write a name next to each “Delegate” task, or a time when you will clear several of them in one go. Cross out the “Delete” box when you have looked at it once.
Pick one “Do now” task, copy it to the line at the top of the sheet, and begin there.

Paper or screen

The online Eisenhower matrix lets you type a task and click the box it belongs in, lists the Do-now tasks on their own, and downloads the matrix as Markdown or the Do-now tasks as a file the tracker can import. Open the online Eisenhower matrix. It runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere.

To check steps off day by day and keep a streak, use the free goal tracker: no account, and your goals stay on your device.

Questions

What are the four quadrants of the Eisenhower matrix?

Do now (urgent and important), Schedule (important, not urgent), Delegate (urgent, not important) and Delete (neither). The sheet numbers them 1 to 4 in that order.

How often should I fill one in?

Once a day or once a week both work. A daily sheet sorts what is in front of you this morning; a weekly sheet is better for seeing how much of your time goes to box 2. The date line at the top is there so you can keep the sheets and compare.

Can I type into the PDF?

No. The file is a flat page for printing and writing on, not a fillable form. To type instead, use the online Eisenhower matrix: type a task, click its box, and download the result.

Reuse

Free to copy, share and adapt, including in a classroom, a workshop or a newsletter, as long as you credit goaltracker.online. The licence is CC BY 4.0, and the credit line is already printed at the foot of the sheet.