Entrepreneurial Education: Prioritizing and Organizing

By Elliot Doty ('25)

The Entrepreneurial Education class is full of useful concepts and ideas that are infinitely applicable to both an entrepreneur and the average person. One of the things that we learned about was the Eisenhower Matrix. Dwight D. Eisenhower invented this system to help him prioritize and deal with the high-stress tasks of his role as U.S. Army General and later as the President of the United States. The matrix categorizes tasks in four quadrants: tasks that are urgent and important belong to the top left quadrant (quadrant one), important but not urgent tasks are in quadrant two (top right), urgent but not important tasks go in quadrant three (bottom left), and unimportant, non-urgent tasks belong in quadrant four (bottom right). The matrix guides our thinking to move more tasks into quadrant two, where you can spend time planning and working on important tasks without the urgency of a near deadline. 

I am typically a disorganized, procrastinating student, however I am finding that the Eisenhower Matrix is helping me plan for and accomplish important tasks with enough time to complete them comfortably before their deadlines arrive. This powerful planning tool will also be helpful to me in the future as I aspire to become an electrician. There will be infinite applications; from completing projects to being on time for clients and everything else that comes with a profession in electrical. This is how the entrepreneurial class has improved me as a student and will help me in my future career.