“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Stephen Covey
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Many of my clients tell me they are struggling with time management. They feel they’re constantly getting sucked into meetings that take them away from what they really want to spend time on - things like business planning, strategizing and relationship-building. In addition, leading virtually for the past year, something new for many leaders, has made it even more challenging to manage time and focus on what’s important.
Here is a very effective tool that may help you be more intentional with your time: Stephen Covey’s Quadrant 4 Model. In this model (see below), Covey breaks our activities down into four categories: important, not important, urgent and not urgent. The key to using this model is to be mindful of the type of activity you are doing and whether or not it is something that must be done in that moment.
Here’s how Covey defines each quadrant:
Quadrant 1 - Important & Urgent (upper left corner): Activities that are pressing problems, deadline driven projects, or the unexpected crises and emergencies and require our immediate attention.
Quadrant 2 - Important & Not Urgent (upper right corner): Things that matter most to us and in the long run bring us the most satisfaction but are not necessarily urgent. These include business planning, strategic thinking, career management, family and personal time. We want to spend time on these things however, we seldom get around to doing it because they don’t feel urgent.
Quadrant 3 - Not important & Urgent (lower left corner): Covey describes this quadrant as deceptive. These are the daily interruptions, poorly thought out meetings, or deadlines we assume are urgent. These activities appear to have a high urgency yet are not important and only suck up our time.
Quadrant 4 - Not Important & Not Urgent (lower right corner): Activities that are time wasters with little or no value such as surfing the internet without purpose, watching endless hours of TV, or having superficial conversations. While we all need downtime to recharge our batteries, these activities waste our precious time.
According to Dr. Covey, most people spend 90% of their time in Quadrant I and the rest of their time in Quadrant IV.
However to best manage our time, Covey says to manage Quadrant I activities, focus and spend more time on Quadrant II items, use caution and try to lessen our time with Quadrant III activities, and say “no” to Quadrant IV items. He says: “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” This method will help us organize our time to get the meaningful things done vs. wasting time on things that don’t have real purpose.
Exercise - Where do you spend your time?
Use this model to track and assess where you spend your time. Then, use the four quadrants to sort out your daily/weekly activities with an emphasis on being more intentional with Quadrant II items. By doing this, you will focus on activities most important to you and feel more in control of your time.
I’ve helped many people undertake this activity, interpret the results and then revamp their schedule or time block their time to gain efficiency and control. Contact me if I can help you.