The matrix in Figure 1 was attributed to Eisenhower and popularised by management guru Stephen Covey. 

It helps us to choose which tasks or actions to focus on by understanding how important and how urgent each one is. It will help you to invest more time in dealing with important activities and guide you away from urgent activities:

• If it’s important and urgent: just do it
• If it’s important but not urgent: schedule it
• If it’s not important but it is urgent: delegate it or push it back
• If it’s not important and not urgent: ignore it.

Urgent actions or tasks are simply those that have imminent deadlines – as soon as possible or by close of play. In the pharmacy, this means prescriptions, of course. Important actions are those that help you to achieve your objectives or priorities. 

You will only know what is important if you have a plan and a set of goals. Don’t mix urgency with importance. Just because someone else thinks it’s urgent, that doesn’t mean it’s important to you.