Stephen Covey said it best when he said, “anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.” Some people have a real problem committing to spend their time on the important things in life. However, others have a problem following through with their commitment to the important. Today I would like to introduce you to another time management principle: understand the important/urgent quadrant. You can find this quadrant explained with great detail in Stephen Covey’s book First Things First; but, for now let me explain in brief.
The quadrant contains four blocks: 1—important/urgent, 2—important/not urgent, 3—not important/urgent, and 4—not important/not urgent. Quadrant 1 involves crises, pressing problems, and deadline-driven projects; quadrant 2 involves prevention, planning, relationship building, recognizing new opportunities, and recreation; quadrant 3 involves interruptions, some phone calls, some mail, some meetings, pressing matters; quadrant 4 involves trivia, busy work, some mail, some phone calls, and time wasters. While all of us have quadrant 1 activities in our lives, some people are consumed by and beaten up by living in this mode. These people often respond by wasting a lot of time in quadrant 4 because this is the only place they get relief. The results of spending all your time in quadrants 1 is stress, burnout, crisis management, and a lifestyle of always putting out fires. All of your time spent in quadrant 3 will result in a short-term focus, crises management, a feeling that goals and plans are worthless, and shallow relationships. Those who are always in quadrant four find themselves living totally irresponsibly, depending on others for basic needs, and getting fired! Where we should spend the majority of our time is in quadrant 2 resulting in vision, perspective, balance, discipline, control, and few crises. Take some time to look over your past week; what quadrant would most of your activities fall into? Strive to live in the important/not urgent, for it is here that you will be most productive and satisfied.
The quadrant contains four blocks: 1—important/urgent, 2—important/not urgent, 3—not important/urgent, and 4—not important/not urgent. Quadrant 1 involves crises, pressing problems, and deadline-driven projects; quadrant 2 involves prevention, planning, relationship building, recognizing new opportunities, and recreation; quadrant 3 involves interruptions, some phone calls, some mail, some meetings, pressing matters; quadrant 4 involves trivia, busy work, some mail, some phone calls, and time wasters. While all of us have quadrant 1 activities in our lives, some people are consumed by and beaten up by living in this mode. These people often respond by wasting a lot of time in quadrant 4 because this is the only place they get relief. The results of spending all your time in quadrants 1 is stress, burnout, crisis management, and a lifestyle of always putting out fires. All of your time spent in quadrant 3 will result in a short-term focus, crises management, a feeling that goals and plans are worthless, and shallow relationships. Those who are always in quadrant four find themselves living totally irresponsibly, depending on others for basic needs, and getting fired! Where we should spend the majority of our time is in quadrant 2 resulting in vision, perspective, balance, discipline, control, and few crises. Take some time to look over your past week; what quadrant would most of your activities fall into? Strive to live in the important/not urgent, for it is here that you will be most productive and satisfied.
-Pastor Matt
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