Focus Matrix helps you focus on the things that matter

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Focus Matrix features
Focus Matrix brings simple yet effective time-management tools to iOS and Mac.
Photo: Xwavesoft

This post is brought to you by XwaveSoft.

“I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important,” President Dwight D. Eisenhower reportedly once said. “The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” This idea underpins a way of organizing tasks named for the former general, using a grid to position tasks in the order they should be taken on.

Focus Matrix turns this time-honored approach to task management into a feature-rich app for both iOS and Mac.

The new productivity app, which launched Tuesday, places your tasks in one of four squares, which transition clockwise based on whether a given task is important, urgent, both or neither. That’s the basic arrangement, based on the so-called Eisenhower Decision Principle, but additional features help this time-management method come to life.

Each task can be assigned a due date with reminders, countering the easy habit of not checking your list. If you’re up against the deadline date, tasks are automatically carried over to the “urgent” box to remind you to get on the stick.

Focus Matrix for Mac
Focus Matrix’s four squares make it easy to prioritize projects and tasks.
Photo: Xwavesoft

Tasks can be arranged in a series of four squares or as a list. Everything is movable between sections via an easy to use drag-and-drop interface, and each category can be viewed individually for in-depth arrangement and prioritization of what needs doing.

For people with a diverse set of tasks, there’s a simple but powerful tagging mechanism. A task can be searched based on its tag or on its status as complete or not complete.

Periodically, Focus Matrix will provide statistics based on which tasks you’ve been able to tick off the list, offering insight into your own work habits. Focus Matrix works with iPhone, iPad and Mac. For the latter, features are expanded even further to include delegating tasks via apps like Email and Messages, sharing via Facebook and Twitter, and bulk editing of tasks.

With the pro version, an upgrade which is right now going for 30 percent off, you get cross-compatibility among devices as well as integration with outside apps like Calendar and the interval-based productivity app Be Focused from the same developer, Xwavesoft.

Try the Focus Matrix task management apps today

All told, Focus Matrix is a personal organizer that can serve as a simple way of keeping your tasks in perspective, or as a hub where you can manage and track all your short- and long-term to-dos. If you’ve used other task-management software and come up wanting, Focus Matrix might be the model that finally makes a difference in your productivity.

See for yourself how much difference it makes in managing your time and workflow. Grab the free versions of Focus Matrix for iOS and Focus Matrix for Mac (and don’t forget about the special launch price, which gives you a 30 percent discount on the pro versions, in case you decide to upgrade).

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