How To Set Priorities The Stephen Covey Way
"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." ~ Stephen Covey
If you’re like so many of us, you start your day with a list of tasks that have to get done. Some tasks are easy; some tasks, not so much.
Between scheduled meetings, not to mention the preparing for these meetings, there are can be numerous other tasks that can occupy you daily to do list.
Of course, the goal is to accomplish everything on that day’s to do list, but before you realized it, it’s 6 pm with to do list tasks undone. What do you do? Roll over undone tasks onto the next day’s to list—again!
Finally, there never seem to be time to work on those aspirational projects that could you’re your business or career forward.
Consider one of the masters of time management, Stephen Covey, author of the bestselling book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."
Follow his process and the good news is that you can get everything done. The bad news is that you have to give up more meaningless tasks along the way.
Covey developed a time management quadrant. Using this quadrant is a great tool for creating clarity in your to-do list and can change how you view your work.
Rather than stressing about all the things you can't get to, with this method, you decide what you want to do and make time for it. Here's how it works:
Imagine a square divided into four quadrants and labeled as follows:
Quadrant 1 Top Left: Urgent And Important ~ Important Deadlines with High Urgency
Quadrant 2 Bottom Left: Urgent But Not Important ~ Long-term Development and Strategizing
Quadrant 3 Top Right: Important, But Not Urgent ~ Distractions with High Urgency
Quadrant 4 Bottom Right: Not Urgent And Not Important ~ Activities with Little to No Value
The next step is to create a list of all your tasks and rank them by quadrant.
Things in Quadrant 1 are both Urgent and Important.
Quadrant 1 are most often the tasks that are obligations to others: deadlines for clients, reports for a manager, governmental compulsions, which "needed" to be done yesterday, or things could get out of your control.
Quadrant 2 contains things that are Important, but Not Urgent.
Quadrant 2 are your aspirational goals, the to do list tasks that help you achieve what you want to realize in life. All too often, these tasks are often delayed because of things in Quadrant 1, or worse, in Quadrant 3.
Quadrant 3 are tasks that are Urgent but Not Important at all.
Quadrant 3 tasks should be minimizing or even eliminating if they do not contribute to your goals or productivity. Examples include, interruptions due to outside factors, obligatory meetings that have little or no value or any other activity that are obstacles that insulate you from your goals. If possible, try to delegate these tasks or consider rescheduling them.
Quadrant 4 are tasks that are Not Urgent and Not Important that do not yield any value.
Quadrant 4 tasks are time wasters should be eliminated at any costs.
With good planning you can create a balance between Quadrants 1 and 2. Ideally, you should clear out Quadrant 1 tasks completely then work solely in Quadrant 2. As for Quadrants 3 and 4, closely look at these tasks and weed out as many as possible. These are the tasks that have little or no value.
How To Decide What Is and Isn’t Important:
Ironically, if you find you have nothing to put in Quadrants 3 and 4, you're probably taking on too many tasks.
Every day, usually at the end of your day, choose what tasks you really want to get done, and what tasks can let go for the time being. Focus on those tasks that are essential to you, and forget about all the rest. This should result in more focus and less clutter.
|
