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“Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they aren’t important. They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II…
Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management.”
…
“What one thing could you do in your personal and professional life that, if you did on a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in your life? Quadrant II activities have that kind of impact. Our effectiveness takes quantum leaps when we do them.”
~ Stephen R. Covey from “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”
Stephen Covey has a 4-quadrant model for time management.
-
Urgent
Not Urgent
Important
Quadrant I
Time Spent In: Fire drills, Crises, Deadline-driven projects
Results: Stress, burnout, always putting out fires
Quadrant II
Time Spent In: Self-Development, Relationship building, Envisioning your future, Exercise/Recreation
Results: Happiness :)
Not Important
Quadrant III
Time Spent In: Interruptions, Unscheduled phone calls, pressing stuff
Results: short-term focus, thinks goals and plans are worthless
Quadrant IV
Time Spent In: Distractions, Wasting time, Busy work, Pleasant Activities
Results: Getting fired, total irresponsibility
Notice the two factors that define an activity in this model: Is it urgent? And, Is it important?
Pretty straight-forward. Urgent means it’s demanding our attention (NOW!) Important means it’s worth doing.
Take a very close look at Quadrant II: the Important but Not Urgent stuff.
We want to play there.
Unfortunately, most of us don’t spend anywhere near enough time there—we’re dancing in and out of the other 3 quadrants: distracting ourselves (IV), allowing interruptions to pester us throughout the day (III), or putting out one fire-drill-crisis after another (I).
Eek.
Take a deep breath.
Take an inventory of where you’re currently spending the most time. What % do you spend where?
Find (make that, SCHEDULE!) time to play in Quadrant II (even that activity will be a Q II activity :)).
Exercise. Spend time in self-development. Develop yourself and your relationships.
…
See ya in Quadrant II, my friend!
…
“Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity-minded.”
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