He won WW2, founded NATO, kick-started NASA, started America's highway system, ended the Korean war, added two states to the union, started the DARPA project (which became the internet as we know it), desegregated the armed forces and sponsored the first civil rights bill since reconstruction.

Dwight Eisenhower was a busy guy.

By understanding how he made the time to do everything he accomplished, we can understand how to get our ideas on the agenda of our clients, colleagues and prospects.

The matrix below is beautiful in its simplicity. Things that are important or urgent get done, things that are not important either get delegated if they are urgent or get ignored.

Whether consciously or not, this probably mirrors the way most people try to manage their time.

To add your idea to the agenda of those you want to influence, you need to add both urgency and importance. Your idea has to be critical to the people you are talking to and it needs to be time sensitive.