New Year, New You
It’s the start of a year and our thoughts turn to being healthier, happier, drinking less, having less stress and getting more done. I believe that time is the portal through which everything you choose can be achieved. Hence the focus of this post is the Eisenhower matrix second quadrant.
To spend more time with the kids, you need more time.
Get to the gym. Time is the excuse we use.
See more of family & friends, work a bit less, and see them a bit more…
‘Time Management’ – the great paradox because you cannot manage it. It just ticks, and ticks and ticks, in its own time.
There is no managing time. There is only managing these choices. Do I do this, or do I do that?
A million times a day we make those choices. One technique has been proven to achieve more success than any other time management technique – ‘Eisenhower’s Matrix’. Or simply Eisenhower Matrix.
The Only Time Management Technique You Really Need – Eisenhower’s Matrix
Notice the location of the Eisenhower Matrix Second Quadrant from the above.
>> Be Your Eagle Planner <<
It was the US President Dwight D. Eisenhower who founded this simple model and was quoted as saying:
What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important’.
You may also know the model as the Urgent and Important Matrix. If you haven’t seen it before, give it a Google.
My job here isn’t to explain the model because you can learn it quickly enough online. Instead, helping you to understand how to stop firefighting is what I’d like to share with you.
If you were to draw the matrix to reflect your time management, you’d draw a huge box 1 (quadrant) and then the other three boxes (quadrants) would be small.
Box 1 is the urgent and important box – The firefighting box. This is where most people live. This is the box with the most stress.
And for some people, this is the box they love because it is the busy box. ‘I am soooo busy, I haven’t slept since 1982, and I’ve worked every day with no holidays too’, says one colleague to another, boasting of how they’re the busiest.
In truth they’re doing their emails, stuck in their inbox, believing that putting a leash on the email monster will be the best use of their time.
Spoiler: It’s not.
Eisenhower Matrix Second Quadrant is Always More Important-er
The challenge of The Matrix is to take the red pill (One for the Matrix film fans!) by accepting my principle:
It’s easy to be busy. It is much harder to make a difference’.
Making a difference is box 2, the Eisenhower matrix second quadrant – important but not yet urgent.
These are the tasks that make the real difference because box 1 tasks are urgent and important. But having worked with people for +20 years on time management the important tasks in box 2 are always more important-er.
But how do you get from Box 1 to Box 2?
You don’t.
Not really.
Let me explain with these 3 steps:
Get to the Eisenhower Matrix Second Quadrant in 3 Steps
1- Mindset:
We believe that time management is about tips, tricks, and hacks. It’s not.
It’s about mindset. Accept that box 1 needs to be managed like IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome).
Accept that you have it and get it under control.
You manage it. Not the other way around.
2- Say No:
Say No once per week to a supposed urgent & important task. Because you need to ‘train’ other people that just because their time management is poor, you do not accept the knock-on effect.
3- Focus:
For 1 hour per week make a meeting with yourself and work on box 2, aka, the important-er tasks. Focus on the Eisenhower matrix second quadrant and you’re on your way to success.
