![stephen covey time management matrix stephen covey time management matrix](https://www.osbplf.org/assets/blog/timematrix.png)
Do First Things First is called a ‘habit’ for a reason. Habit #3 of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is not a quick fix. To change we have to break our habits in favour of new habits – we can’t stop smoking if we keep lighting up. If these small activates threaten our ability to do our important work then it is our choice to succeed or fail. Some non-strategic things we need to say no to… or at least say not now. We all struggle with conflicting daily demands. Get used to saying no (or at least not now), to in favour of your Quadrant II (non-urgent but important), activities. If they become urgent it probably means you’ve let them slide in favour of other “Busy Work”.Įvery week – revisit your true key 3 or 4 goals and use your creative imagination and a well implemented plan to succeed. These items should remain non-urgent (Quadrant II), because you will keep them under control. Prioritize what you, your boss or shareholders measure. Go work in a conference room if you need to – certainly, turn off email.įocus on your big, important, non-urgent tasks. You have the power to reinvent how you approach your day.Īt first you may want to adopt Habit #3 slowly – perhaps the first (most important), 2 hours of your day. Habit #3 (and Habit #1), of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People means we can choose to ‘ Act, not be Acted Upon’. It’s all too easy to push aside Quadrant II work because the due date of that deliverable will be in the future. I know answering a hundred email feels rewarding… but most of our email is busy work – it can wait a few hours until our important / strategic work is done. Leave routine – low priority work like email to the afternoon.
#Stephen covey time management matrix professional#
If you are a professional executive I can almost guarantee your peak creativity productivity is in the morning – therefore you should do your creative, strategic work in the morning. So, to be most effective you would do your hardest workouts in the morning… not leave the workout to end of day.
![stephen covey time management matrix stephen covey time management matrix](https://digidentz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Time-Management-Matrix-by-Christopher.jpg)
You are a professional body builder and your peak physical productivity is in the morning. This doesn’t make our work important… it just makes us busy, stressed and less effective with our truly important tasks. Unfortunately, most of us spend most of our time in Quadrant III. We are responsible for our decisions, vision and values. Habit #3 is about choosing to make Habit 1 (Empowerment), and Habit 2 (Vision) part of our daily behaviour. The strategically important tasks are days, weeks, months in the future and we have broken the work into sizable chunks than can be managed in a timely, controlled way. The big rocks are not urgent because we are proactive.The things that matter most should never be at the mercy of the things that matter least. The point is that if we don’t put the big rocks in first we will never get ALL rocks and pebbles in (with room to spare if planned correctly). It’s not that we can always fit more into our schedule (a recipe for burn-out).I enjoy asking two questions of Stephen Covey’s Big Rocks example: The Time Management Matrix is a resource to help us make decisions and prioritize the conflicting daily demands we encounter. They are not strategically important but often appear urgent. Pebbles represent busy activities (Quadrant III), therefore matter least.Small rocks (not used in this video), represent smart activities (Quadrant I), therefore are strategically important and urgent.Big rocks represent the key activities (Quadrant II), therefore they matter most because they are strategically important and not urgent.I summarize this relationship as follows: There is a strong relationship between this example and his 4 Quadrant Time Management Matrix theory.
![stephen covey time management matrix stephen covey time management matrix](https://mindmapblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/time-management-1.jpg)
Covey was many years ago watching the video clip I’ve linked here where he gives an example of Habit #3 called Big Rocks. Put First Things First – or as I like to say….” Do your important things first.”