Priority Reset
A modern evolution of the Eisenhower Matrix for leaders carrying too much.
Leaders today are overwhelmed not because they lack capacity, but because they’re carrying work that no longer belongs to them. Some tasks are urgent. Some are important. Some are both. And some are legacy commitments, responsibilities inherited in a different season that quietly drain energy and block strategic focus.
The Priority Reset Canvas honors the lineage of the classic Eisenhower Matrix, a tool attributed to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and later popularized by Stephen Covey. Eisenhower’s insight remains timeless: what is urgent is rarely important, and what is important is rarely urgent. But modern leadership requires a fourth dimension, the ability to identify and release work that no longer aligns with your role, your goals, or the organization’s needs.
This tool helps leaders sort their commitments into four clear categories so they can reclaim focus, reduce overwhelm, and make intentional choices about where their time and attention go.
Urgent and Important
This is the work that truly requires your attention right now. It is time‑sensitive and mission‑critical.
What deadlines are real?
What decisions are waiting on you?
What directly affects outcomes this week or this quarter?
Example: Finalizing a board presentation due Thursday.
Important but Not Urgent
This is the strategic work that shapes the future. It requires focus, not firefighting.
What deserves protected time?
What will matter six months from now?
What moves the organization forward?
Example: Designing a new onboarding experience for managers.
Urgent but Not Important
This is the work that feels loud but doesn’t require your expertise. It is often the first category to delegate.
What is time‑sensitive but not strategic?
What could someone else do with the right clarity?
What is only on your plate because you’ve always done it?
Example: Responding to routine vendor emails.
Legacy Commitments
This is the work you said yes to in a different season — before your role expanded, before the team grew, before priorities shifted. It is the work that quietly drains energy and blocks strategic focus.
What no longer aligns with your role?
What have you outgrown?
What needs to be handed off, renegotiated, or released?
Example: Running a weekly operations meeting you inherited two years ago.
How to use this: Leaders map every task, project, and commitment into one of the four quadrants. Then they make decisions:
What must I keep?
What can I delegate?
What needs to be redesigned?
What needs to be released entirely?
This process creates clarity, reduces overwhelm, and opens space for the work that actually matters.
