Four Quadrants of Time Management

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Laura and I were reflecting that we have been working 24/7 since January 2nd with our plans for 2006 and the move.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I foolishly thought that I could sit in my office on Monday after moving for 10 days and just flip the switch and go.

NOT!

Stephen R. Covey talks about in his Four Quadrants of Time Management:

1) Important & Urgent
2) Important & Not Urgent
3) Urgent & Not Important
4) Not Urgent & Not Important

According to Covey, the problem most people have is with Quadrant Two, the Important but not Urgent.

Again, given that I have been moving for 10 days and a brand new office and filing set up, I started the week off in Quadrant One, Important & Urgent.

Once the Important & Urgent matters were complete, I mentioned that I noticed that this hooked me into everything seeming like it was Important & Urgent.

Here is an excerpt from my January 31st Blog.

After these were all completed or well on their way to being completed I or rather my Ego started to notice an uneasiness starting to come over me as I, or rather my Ego was looking for the next urgent thing to do.

Looking for the next urgent thing to do is a habitual behavior of the Ego mind that hooks us into the unmet needs of security as an example; that hooks us into limiting beliefs that there isn’t enough time and there is too much to do and the emotions of anxiety go along with it.

By this time, my Ego mind which is now hooked into anxiety by all the things that my Ego mind believes has to be done, is consumed by it’s addiction to thinking by going from one thought to the next thought of what my Ego mind believes has to be done, to the next, to the next to the – 🙂 It is kind of like what happens when you move going from one box to the next box, to the next box, to the next box. Life is like a box a chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. Better stop and clarify your Vision or you could get a box of –

So unless one takes the time to stop and wake up to their Being, the Ego will not stop.

We all know what we should do. The question is what do you do?

I chose to wake up.

So by choice, over the course of the week, in my spare time after client calls, I’ve been setting up my new office and filing systems. Note that even today is interrupted by one more furniture delivery.) And I’m OK with this as I am knowingly working on Quadrant Four, Not Urgent & Not Important.

Ah Ha! Quadrant Four, Not Urgent & Not Important are Important to me as I know my Core Behavioral Style requires a well organized foundation to work from. Then I will move to Quadrant 2, the Important but not Urgent.

For what it is worth, as I view Quadrant Three, I just can’t get my head around this one as I don’t relate to it. I suppose someone with huge Unmet Needs and No Vision would make everything appear to be Urgent and the lack of focus brought on by Unmet Needs and No Vision would make everything Not Important. Again, see excerpt from my January 31st Blog.

Sidebar!! I just got a huge new chapter for my book! How Unmet Needs, Limiting Beliefs and Limiting Emotions relate to Stephen R. Covey’s Four Quadrants of Time Management.

So -.

This is the long way round to saying, after a final day of unpacking my office and files I’m looking forward to the weekend for some rest and to next week when I can work from my Prioritized, Scheduled Project List in Quadrant Two Time Management.