PLANNING
To manage time effectively, one must look at
the objectives and determine how to accomplish
those objectives. In simple terms, planning is
pre-determining a course of events. This involves
realistically looking at the task ahead and mapping
out what’s required to accomplish the goals, then
developing a reasonable timeline for completion.
Planning is an up-front investment in success. The
planning process assists individuals in developing
new rituals over time. It may be difficult at first,
but like anything else—planning takes practice.
Making small changes in your daily schedule will
eventually become habits, and habits develop behavior.
The result of little investments made consistently over
time will produce huge results.
FIRST THINGS FIRST MATRIX
3
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Planning is
an up-front
investment in
success.
URGENT
NOT URGENT
NOT IMPORTANT
IMPORTANT
QUADRANT 1
Crying Baby
Kitchen Fire
Some Calls
Steven Covey, author of The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People, introduced the First
Things First Matrix as a way for individuals
to prioritize work aimed at long-term goals.
His 2x2 matrix is simple: classify tasks as
urgent and non-urgent on one axis, and
important and non-important on the other
axis.
Covey’s approach assists individuals towards
reaching their goals, at the expense of tasks
appearing to be urgent, but are in reality less
important.
1
Quadrant 2 contains items most of us
neglect—but spending time on the
non-urgent, important tasks will increase
overall effectiveness. Covey’s method is a
perfect tool to assist with one’s focus on
important tasks. It’s tempting to handle
urgent tasks all the time—but that won’t
leave much time for the tasks necessary for
completing long-term goals.
QUADRANT 2
Exercise
Vocation
Planning
QUADRANT 3
Interruptions
Distractions
Other Calls
QUADRANT 4
Trivia
Busy Work
Time Wasters