You're simply trying to get one thing off your plate, so you can breathe for half a second and get to the next emergency to get off your plate. What you'll quickly realize is that you've only been spending time on urgent tasks each week. If you simply spend 30 minutes at the beginning of each week thinking about these 4 quadrants and what you want to spend your time on in the coming week, you will be 10x more productive than you usually are. Yet, we'd be amazed how much time we waste in a given week on these tasks. ![]() We prioritize these things in the moment and obviously derive some pleasure from them, but they are really not urgent or important. It mind be mindlessly eating potato chips, even though we're not hungry. It's checking and rechecking Facebook and Twitter during the day, because we think we might miss something. It's watching a mindless TV show at the end of the day. ![]() These things we do because we feel like we're tired and need a break. These are other activities which we tell ourselves in the moment that we must do but - if we stopped ourselves to really think about - we'd realize they aren't that important. These are poorly thought-out meetings that soak up our time, but which we have to attend because we already accepted the invite. These are interruptions that happen, such as phone calls. They clog up our time today but, when we look back at these things at the end of the week, we'll have to admit they were a waste of time. These tasks are the biggest reason we're not more successful in the long-term. It could be attending a conference to learn about some new area that you've heard a little bit about and which sounds promising but might not pan out into anything. It's having a lunch with an important contact or client. They are things we know we need to get to but probably will push off. These are the things that matter in the long-term but will yield no tangible benefits this week or even this year. When we do fire-fighting, it's all relating to stuff in this quadrant. The most pressing meetings or deadlines fall into this category. These are the most pressing of tasks we'll likely get to this week. If you remember one thing, and one thing only, about the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People book, here it is:Īt the start of every week, write a two-by-two matrix on a blank sheet of paper where one side of the matrix says "urgent" and "not urgent" and the other side of the matrix says "important" and "not important." Then, write all the things you want to do that week. "quadrant two" items that are important but not urgent and so require greater attention for effective time management (Photo credit: Wikipedia) ![]() Time management matrix as described in Merrill and Covey 1994 book "First Things First," showing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |