Wow, first blog post since 2021!
get a load of this lady!
I’ve always been interested in productivity tools and “hacks” or whatever, and over the years I’ve found myself returning to, and then quickly abandoning, the Eisenhower Matrix.
Off the back of a somewhat recent ADHD diagnosis, I’m looking at tools like this through a new lens - how can I make this useful for me?
I came up with what I am now calling The Elliehower Matrix. It’s my ADHD-friendly retool of the Eisenhower Matrix, and yeah of course I named it after myself. Something similar may exist out there, I’m not sure, but it just occured to me so I made it and now I’m sharing it.
The tradslop Eisenhower Matrix wants you to categorise the tasks on your To Do list by whether they’re important or not, and whether they’re urgent or not. Take a look.
I’m not a graphic designer btw so chill on all that. Also, who is delegating girl. And why would I “delete” something from my To Do list if I’ve already deemed it worthy of being on there…anyway…
Basically I’ve found it’s not particularly helpful to try and grade things on my To Do list as either important or unimportant. If it’s on the list, it needs getting done - that’s it. Pontificating on how important it is doesn’t help motivate me; if anything, it might just make me feel more dread or guilt for not having done it already, ultimately sending me into a spiral where I get nothing done at all.
So, in order to optimise for momentum (which at least for me is the most reliable mechanism for accelerating productivity), the important/unimportant axis has been swapped to quick wins/lengthier efforts, or EASY TO SMASH OUT/NEED TO SINK MY TEETH IN, because that’s closer to how I speak to myself. So it ends up looking like this:
And there it is!
I think it’s clear that optimising for momentum is the main goal here, but it’s also to work in self-compassion as well. We’re all over the hustle/grind culture now, right? It doesn’t need to be about babying yourself or making excuses for yourself, but it does need to be an honest and realistic assessment of your capacity to be productive in the moment, and making a reasonable judgement call based on that. Sometimes, that means abandoning the Matrix and heading to bed early with Uber Eats and a shitty anime .mov rip from 2009. So relax, accept it, and don’t self-flagellate over it (you don’t win any brownie points by doing that).
Hope this helps :) Here’s some printables as well - once again I stress I am not a graphic designer ♡
Ellie x
