The art of prioritisation as a practice
In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen R. Covey popularised the Eisenhower Time Management Matrix, where the goal is not to manage time itself, but to manage where to focus your attention. While I believe the model is inherently a very useful one, it lacks compassion for a) how differently we all approach managing our time, b) the bad habits that society has taught us around how we “should” (or should not) spend our time, and c) how we might be spending our time, not even out of habit, but out of trying to cope with an overwhelming existence (being in survival mode).
My hope is that this resource is useful AND creates a space for you to compassionately consider how to meet your needs, as well as the demands of others and the world.
I’m going to start by addressing the lower two quadrants (grey and Not Important), because understanding what is not important is key to identifying what is!
Quadrant 3
Not Important and Urgent activities demand immediate attention, grab you with their seeming pressure, but are often genuinely unimportant. Many things that appear as urgent are in fact someone else's urgent priority but not necessarily yours. This is why it’s important to take regular time to review tasks to identify what really matters to you and to identify how the tasks fit into your critical path. Role-modeling this practice, along with good boundary hygiene, will help reduce stress, streamline your energy / effectiveness, and support others who are in bad habits to change and grow.
Quadrant 4
Not Important and Not Urgent activities come in the form of time-wasting, busy-work, and easy/entertaining/popular ‘socially acceptable’ distractions (e.g. social media, attending to notifications etc). Digging into what these activities are really giving you will lead you to understand where your unmet needs lie. Scrolling / online games might represent the desire for thoughtlessness, or a way to claw back control of your time from exterior forces. These activities could signify that your mind needs something it isn’t getting e.g. rest, quiet time, alone time, less pressure, or to be away from someone or something. Identifying practices that create spaces and experiences for you outside of your main responsibilities (professional, familial, etc) will help reduce mental and physical stress. Taking care of your energy in this way has a positive ripple effect in all areas of your life.
Quadrant 2
Important and Not Urgent activities contribute to your longer term goals, including your life’s purpose. (If you are not sure what this is, I can help!). Despite these activities being critical to fulfilment and success, these tasks don’t actively/urgently demand your attention, so you need to be proactive in addressing them, prioritising them, and creating an optimal environment for making them happen. On the flip side, ignoring these activities over a long period can lead to crises, forcing you into a reactive mode where you’re always stressed and firefighting, rather than resourced and therefore able to effectively prioritise and hold your boundaries. These activities are the genuine needle movers in the direction of your values and the realisation of your dreams.
Quadrant 1
Urgent and Important activities are, at various times in life, impossible to avoid completely. So, the realistic and more sustainable aim is to consistently minimise time spent in this quadrant. Spending too much time in Quadrant 1 will cause it to grow - a slippery slope towards it all too easily taking over - leading to overwhelm and eventual burnout.
The most effective way to use the grid:
Focus on Quadrant 2
Minimise time spent in Quadrant 1
Learn to discern and avoid adding activities to Quadrant 3
Find healthier ways to meet the needs that are showing up in Quadrant 4.
Remember - Quadrant 2 (Important but Not Urgent) is the heart of effective personal management. Here, you focus on activities that prevent problems and seize opportunities, like nurturing relationships, exercising, long-term planning, learning, and growth. To really succeed in this quadrant, you must clarify your priorities and learn to say 'no' to less important activities, even when they seem urgent.
Exercise
Draw this grid out on a piece of paper.
Before you populate the grid, write a list of things on your plate (i.e. what’s going on in your life? What's on your to-do list? What’s in your calendar?).
Consider each item one-by-one - is it urgent (for you)? Is it important (to you)?
Put them in the corresponding quadrant on the grid.
What needs to be in Quadrant 2?
Is what is in Quadrant 2 sustainable? Is there a way to better manage it in future?
Mark in Quadrant 3 what you can say ‘no’ to and design boundaries to support keeping these things away in future.
Mark in Quadrant 4 what you can say ‘no’ to and what you would like to say ‘yes’ to instead.
Doing a regular (weekly or monthly) assessment using this model can be incredibly helpful, not only while you learn this new discernment discipline, but also with the aim of forming this as a habit. When it becomes second nature, energy is freed up, boundaries are better, contracting is cleaner, and trust is enhanced - both internally for yourself, and with others.
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