When I started working with the executive team of a small VC fund, they were already deep in firefighting mode. Their days were a blur of investor calls, program development and back-and-forths with regulators. Every conversation started the same way: "We're buried. Everything's urgent. And no one seems to be keeping up."
On paper, this was a sharp, high-capacity team. But in practice, they were scattered, reactive and increasingly frustrated with one another. Their backlog was endless, and so was the tension. Everyone felt like they were constantly cleaning up someone else's mess—and no one had the time to zoom out and ask: What are we actually trying to accomplish?
On paper, this was a sharp, high-capacity team. But in practice, they were scattered, reactive and increasingly frustrated with one another. Their backlog was endless, and so was the tension. Everyone felt like they were constantly cleaning up someone else's mess—and no one had the time to zoom out and ask: What are we actually trying to accomplish?
The Hidden Cost Of Prioritization Paralysis
This team isn't unique. I bet that you and your team know exactly what I'm talking about, and you find yourselves juggling 10 different "top priorities" way too often. You're not alone. According to Gallup's research, "over four in 10 managers strongly agree that they have multiple competing priorities." The challenge lies in a lack of clarity. Teams are working hard, but without a shared understanding of what matters most, they're wasting effort and burning out.
The data reveals just how deep this problem runs. A global survey of 2,000 employees revealed that 40% "had no time to reflect on how to plan and prioritize." Under those circumstances, what's the likelihood that they were engaging in high-quality discussions and decision-making?
Perhaps most troubling, Deloitte's "2025 Global Human Capital Trends" report found that "75% of organizations rated their ability to accurately evaluate the value created by individual workers as not very or not at all effective." In other words, we're not just struggling to prioritize—we're struggling to understand what's actually creating value in the first place.
The Enhanced Eisenhower Matrix For Teams
So, how do you break this cycle? As I describe in my book, CLICKING, when urgency keeps hijacking your team's focus, you need a shared way to decide what truly matters—and what doesn't. This is where most teams struggle. Everyone agrees they're too busy. But ask what to drop, or delay, and things get quiet.
That's why I use the Eisenhower Matrix—a spatial framework that helps you sort your tasks into four quadrants based on urgency and importance.
You've probably seen it before:
• Do (urgent and important)
• Plan (not urgent but important)
• Question (urgent but not important)
• Drop (neither urgent nor important)
I'll be honest with you—this tool never worked for me the way it was supposed to. Why? Because while sorting tasks into those four quadrants, I found most of them landed in the "urgent and important" section. Everything was important, and since I never had enough time to complete them all, everything was also urgent.
Everything feels urgent when you're under pressure.
The good thing is that over time, I managed to hack the classic Eisenhower Matrix. Here are five tricks that make this tool work every time.
1. Find the center of gravity.
Start by noticing where most of your tasks land. Are they clustered in the Do quadrant? That's your first clue. We're not going to force an even distribution here—but we need to challenge the assumption that all of those tasks are equally urgent and important.
So, talk about why that quadrant is overloaded. What's driving the sense of urgency? Is it real, or are you playing it safe by putting everything in the Do quadrant?
2. Reflect the level of effort.
Once you've placed the tasks, go back and estimate the level of effort for each one. Small, medium, large, extra large—whatever works for your team. Visually label or color-code the effort directly on the matrix. This helps surface the hidden cost of your to-dos.
Not all important work is equally feasible right now. Something might belong in the Do quadrant on paper—but if it's an extra-large lift and your team is underwater, you'll need to revisit the timing or rescope it.
3. Score by impact.
Now bring in another layer: impact. Score each task from 1 to 5 based on how much it moves the needle on your team's actual goals. A task with a 5 means significant progress; a 1 means minimal difference. Any task with a low impact score in the Do quadrant should be moved to the Plan or Question quadrants.
4. Apply the 80/20 rule.
The Pareto Principle states that 20% of tasks account for 80% of the results. Look at the tasks you've designated as important. Which few are likely to drive most of the results? These are your 20%—the vital few that deserve focus. Mark them visibly.
You don't need to do more to make progress; you need to do the right things.
5. Set limits for the Do quadrant.
Finally, draw a line. Literally. Cap the number of tasks that can live in the Do quadrant. This forces hard decisions and builds alignment fast. If something doesn't make the cut, move it to the Plan or Question quadrant.
The number of tasks you leave in the Do quadrant isn't that important. What matters is that team members start challenging assumptions and critically evaluating things they used to consider important by default. That's how teams learn to fight back against the "everything is urgent" reflex.
You can use all these tricks together or pick those that resonate most with your team. The most important thing is that when you start having those conversations, you're not just sorting cards—you're building the muscle of your team's shared judgment.
How One VC Team Turned Things Around
This is exactly what happened with that VC fund team I mentioned. After completing this exercise, they decided to move one of their key initiatives into the Plan quadrant. They carved out protected time each week to work on it as a group. This move helped them feel in control. For the first time in months, they were building rather than responding.
The real win isn't just a cleaner to-do list. It's building a team that stays focused together—even when everything around them gets demanding.
This team isn't unique. I bet that you and your team know exactly what I'm talking about, and you find yourselves juggling 10 different "top priorities" way too often. You're not alone. According to Gallup's research, "over four in 10 managers strongly agree that they have multiple competing priorities." The challenge lies in a lack of clarity. Teams are working hard, but without a shared understanding of what matters most, they're wasting effort and burning out.
The data reveals just how deep this problem runs. A global survey of 2,000 employees revealed that 40% "had no time to reflect on how to plan and prioritize." Under those circumstances, what's the likelihood that they were engaging in high-quality discussions and decision-making?
Perhaps most troubling, Deloitte's "2025 Global Human Capital Trends" report found that "75% of organizations rated their ability to accurately evaluate the value created by individual workers as not very or not at all effective." In other words, we're not just struggling to prioritize—we're struggling to understand what's actually creating value in the first place.
The Enhanced Eisenhower Matrix For Teams
So, how do you break this cycle? As I describe in my book, CLICKING, when urgency keeps hijacking your team's focus, you need a shared way to decide what truly matters—and what doesn't. This is where most teams struggle. Everyone agrees they're too busy. But ask what to drop, or delay, and things get quiet.
That's why I use the Eisenhower Matrix—a spatial framework that helps you sort your tasks into four quadrants based on urgency and importance.
You've probably seen it before:
• Do (urgent and important)
• Plan (not urgent but important)
• Question (urgent but not important)
• Drop (neither urgent nor important)
I'll be honest with you—this tool never worked for me the way it was supposed to. Why? Because while sorting tasks into those four quadrants, I found most of them landed in the "urgent and important" section. Everything was important, and since I never had enough time to complete them all, everything was also urgent.
Everything feels urgent when you're under pressure.
The good thing is that over time, I managed to hack the classic Eisenhower Matrix. Here are five tricks that make this tool work every time.
1. Find the center of gravity.
Start by noticing where most of your tasks land. Are they clustered in the Do quadrant? That's your first clue. We're not going to force an even distribution here—but we need to challenge the assumption that all of those tasks are equally urgent and important.
So, talk about why that quadrant is overloaded. What's driving the sense of urgency? Is it real, or are you playing it safe by putting everything in the Do quadrant?
2. Reflect the level of effort.
Once you've placed the tasks, go back and estimate the level of effort for each one. Small, medium, large, extra large—whatever works for your team. Visually label or color-code the effort directly on the matrix. This helps surface the hidden cost of your to-dos.
Not all important work is equally feasible right now. Something might belong in the Do quadrant on paper—but if it's an extra-large lift and your team is underwater, you'll need to revisit the timing or rescope it.
3. Score by impact.
Now bring in another layer: impact. Score each task from 1 to 5 based on how much it moves the needle on your team's actual goals. A task with a 5 means significant progress; a 1 means minimal difference. Any task with a low impact score in the Do quadrant should be moved to the Plan or Question quadrants.
4. Apply the 80/20 rule.
The Pareto Principle states that 20% of tasks account for 80% of the results. Look at the tasks you've designated as important. Which few are likely to drive most of the results? These are your 20%—the vital few that deserve focus. Mark them visibly.
You don't need to do more to make progress; you need to do the right things.
5. Set limits for the Do quadrant.
Finally, draw a line. Literally. Cap the number of tasks that can live in the Do quadrant. This forces hard decisions and builds alignment fast. If something doesn't make the cut, move it to the Plan or Question quadrant.
The number of tasks you leave in the Do quadrant isn't that important. What matters is that team members start challenging assumptions and critically evaluating things they used to consider important by default. That's how teams learn to fight back against the "everything is urgent" reflex.
You can use all these tricks together or pick those that resonate most with your team. The most important thing is that when you start having those conversations, you're not just sorting cards—you're building the muscle of your team's shared judgment.
How One VC Team Turned Things Around
This is exactly what happened with that VC fund team I mentioned. After completing this exercise, they decided to move one of their key initiatives into the Plan quadrant. They carved out protected time each week to work on it as a group. This move helped them feel in control. For the first time in months, they were building rather than responding.
The real win isn't just a cleaner to-do list. It's building a team that stays focused together—even when everything around them gets demanding.
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This article was originally published on Forbes Coaches Council
This article was originally published on Forbes Coaches Council