Month: January 2026

By Todd Paetznick, January 13, 2026

Decision-making can feel overwhelming at times and result in nothing getting done.  At times, we can feel paralyzed by indecision and fear of doing the wrong thing, and the complexity of options.  There may be so many decisions to make that it is unclear what the best next step is.  

Prioritizing is key.  What is most urgent and what is unimportant?  

The President of the United States makes some of the most complex decisions. These decisions are consequential and affect millions (maybe billions) of people.  Before he became president, Dwight D. Eisenhower was a military man who served as the General in charge of the Allied forces during World War II.  The decisions he needed to make during the war were crucial. They often meant the difference between life and death for the people serving under his leadership.  For efficiency, Eisenhower used a simple decision-making technique to prioritize tasks. This technique is now known as the Eisenhower Matrix. It is widely used by powerful people worldwide.  

The Eisenhower Matrix is a quadrant-based system. It is a square divided into four smaller squares, or quadrants, by vertical and horizontal lines. The Top Right quadrant contains urgent and important tasks and decisions. The Top Left quadrant contains Urgent but Not Important tasks. The Bottom-Right quadrant contains Important but Not Urgent tasks. The Bottom Left quadrant shows tasks that are Neither Important Nor Urgent.  

How to Use the Eisenhower Matrix

What is your objective?  Even before using the matrix to determine what needs to be done next, answer the “why” question. Consider why we are doing anything at all.  What is our desired outcome from all of our efforts?  Our decisions and tasks must move us closer to that outcome.  Knowing where we want to go will ensure that every step we take moves us closer to that destination.  And we will discover that clarity about that destination will simplify the categorization process and answer the “what” questions.  As in, what do we need to do next?  

The next step is to assign all decisions and tasks to the appropriate quadrant of the matrix.  Categorizing decisions and tasks based on importance will help prioritize them. Assessing their urgency will narrow down what needs to be done next.  Here is a summary of the matrix and its role in prioritization.

Urgent – Important.  Tasks and decisions with deadlines and significant consequences.  Do these first.

Urgent – Not Important.  Delegate urgent tasks and decisions that do not require your involvement or expertise but must be done quickly.  If the task/decision cannot be delegated, give these items your second priority.

Not Urgent – Important.  Tasks and decisions without definitive deadlines can be deferred to a less hectic time.  These will be your third priority.  

Not Urgent – Not Important.  Do not waste your time on these items.  Prioritizing items into this category can sometimes reveal items that are not valuable at all.  Delete these items from your matrix.

Revisit.  Some tasks and decisions may not appear urgent or important, but their status changes over time.  Similarly, some tasks and decisions may not have a deadline, but time reveals a different level of urgency.  Adjust your 

An Eisenhower Matrix as a Spreadsheet.  If you are a spreadsheet person, build yourself something that looks similar to the one below.  It will help you visualize your decisions and tasks, and you can cut and paste items as their priorities change.  Create an area on your spreadsheet to save the progress you have made. Add a date to show when it was completed.  

January 6, 2026.  By Todd Paetznick

Welcome to 2026!!  Making resolutions is a good idea for the new year.  In the process, we recognize that something in our lives needs to improve.  Yet, based on history, not even 10% of us stick to our resolutions for even a month!  Most of us give up and abandon our resolutions before January is even over.   Why don’t our resolutions stick?  And what should we do instead?  The remedy is helpful for our personal lives and also our business.

Recognize that most resolutions are aspirational, something we want to happen.  The most common New Year’s resolutions involve eating better and exercising more. They also include losing weight, managing finances better, and spending more time with family and friends.  These are all great goals to achieve, but we secretly want our resolutions to happen with minimal to no effort.  Missing from most of our resolutions is how we will achieve them.  Joining a gym is a good first step toward hitting our fitness and weight-loss resolution.  Joining doesn’t produce the desired result; however, we have to go to the gym and work out regularly.  By itself, a gym membership is not enough to deliver the results we desire.

A tried-and-true method for achieving goals and resolutions is to make them SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.  Specific, detailing what the result will be and why it is important to us.  Measurable, defining metrics and milestones to be met along the way to achieving the goal.  Achievable, set a realistic goal. Ensure it can be met within the time frame, such as one year for our New Year’s resolutions.  Relevant, the achievement of the goal matters and fits into our longer-term objectives.  Time-bound, setting a time for the accomplishment’s completion, and also the more near-term goals along the way.  

Whether setting goals for our personal lives or our business, one year is too long to accomplish a goal. We need to define intermediate steps. This way, we can see measured progress along the way.  Joining a gym is a good first step, but our minds work on timeframes shorter than a year.  Three months at a time, a month at a time, and even a week at a time.  Items included on a weekly to-do list are much more difficult to ignore and defer than longer-term items.  Scheduling time every week to go to the gym is a good practice toward achieving our health goals.  

New Year’s resolutions and business goal-setting share the need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.  Happy New Year!  May you achieve all your resolutions!!  

Todd Paetznick is a Business Coach who helps small- and medium-sized organizations flourish.  He is an implementer of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a business optimization framework that has helped thousands of organizations achieve new success and long-term sustained growth.  His company, Invert Business Coaching, helps people and their organizations reach their full potential.  Todd is also in leadership with CBMC, the Christian Business Men’s Connection, where he manages the Trusted Advisor Forums (TAF) for the metro Atlanta area.