The essence of time management is productivity. It likely to be one of those subjects searched by each of us more than a handful of times when things are getting out of control. Our quest to conquer the passage of time and become more productive is elevated to almost an obsession. Yet, we often fail to accept that time management is more than simply better management of our time, it’s about managing ourselves in relation to time. Moreover, it’s our ability to set priorities and act accordingly.
Experimenting with different tactics to find the best way to maximize the use of time brings to mind Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States. Ike based his oval office decisions on the following: “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.” He could not have been more right.
Let’s take a closer look at this concept, the Eisenhower Matrix. This method was made popular by Stephen Covey in his book “First Things First.” With the limitations on available time, the path to perfection is prioritization. When confronted with the scores of tasks to be done each day, two questions separate the items on the to-do list: First, is the task important? Second, is it urgent?
When filtering your activities through The Four Quadrants, we have to first deal with those that are Important and Urgent. In order to move on, we have to clear this category or delegate items to trusted associates. Your goal is to keep this quadrant empty. It is a fact that the more time you spend being a “fire extinguisher,” the greater the chance that you are simply spinning your wheels and not making progress where you need to. Working harder, getting nowhere. Taking your eye off the ball of continuous profit improvement.
Working on Important Not Urgent is where progress happens by capitalizing on your big opportunities. It is the time best spent moving forward on the goals you set. These success-oriented tasks are critical to achieving your goals. Spending time in this category will stop the vicious cycle that keeps you in the Important and Urgent, forever. Plan to spend a lot of your time here. It will show up in the form of increased profits.
People often also rush to deal with the Urgent and Not Important tasks at hand, pushing the important, but not urgent ones somewhere into the future. We feel at ease delaying these tasks, recognizing that the task is important – but comforted because we have still time to complete it. People who spend a lot of time in this category are basically unproductive. Some of the calls and meetings, acting on someone else’s priorities, maintenance, routine tasks and the proverbial “fake deadlines” are common reasons for not hitting your own goals. From today on, just say no.Eliminate anything in the category Not Important and Not Urgent. Good news, right? These are the interruptions; they just don’t matter. Drop them.
The Urgent/Important Matrix helps you think about your priorities, and determine which of your activities are important, urgent or not urgent and which are essentially distractions. It will set your focus on what really matters and what will create a greater value to you and your business.Using Time Tracking will help you increase productivity and effectiveness. You can boost your profitability over the next few weeks.
Donna Marie Thompson, PhD
Creating your best profit is my highest priority. http://www.ExpertProfitSolutions.com
PS: For more information please click here and get my free Special Report: “3 Profit Pitfalls and How To Avoid Them.”
PSS: Go to http://www.officetime.net for a no-cost 21-day trial of the desktop version of OfficeTime or for the free version of their App.
Remember – Just Say No to the Status Quo TM