I don’t know about you, but wow it’s busy right now. Everything seems to be in flux – it’s hard to find stability anywhere. The pressure is on to get things done and we're all still adjusting to new ways of working and frustrated at the challenges that gives us. In summary we are All. Kinda. Over. It.
All that and 8 hrs of straight meetings a day, how do we know we are focussing on the right things, and what is right in this context anyway…
In this instance, I am not the expert, I am not following the advice I’m about to give, but I asked myself this question 5 times last week, and a former client of mine actually released a training video about it on LinkedIn this weekend. So I’m following the steer of the universe and in doing so helping myself and hopefully helping you to.
So, let’s talk about Eisenhower’s Urgent/Important principle. Let’s see if we can find a way to using our time effectively, not just efficiently.
Where does the name come from?
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. Before becoming President, he served as a general in the United States Army and as the Allied Forces Supreme Commander during World War II. He also later became NATO’s first supreme commander. In a 1954 speech to the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, he quoted Dr J. Roscoe Miller, president of Northwestern University, saying;
“I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
This "Eisenhower Principle" is said to be how he organised his workload and priorities.
Business thinker Stephen Covey popularised the Eisenhower’s Decision Principle in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People released in 1989, so this is a principle that has served the test of time.
This principle states that great time management means being effective as well as efficient. In other words, we must spend our time on things that are important and not just the ones that are urgent.
To do this we first need to understand this distinction:
Important tasks are things that contribute to our long-term mission, values, and goals (be they personal, professional, individual or organisational)
Urgent means that a task /activity requires immediate attention. These are the to-do’s that shout “Now!”
Urgent tasks put us in a reactive mode, one marked by a defensive, negative, hurried, and narrowly-focused mindset. They are also usually associated with achieving someone else's goals. They are often the ones we concentrate on and they demand attention because the consequences of not dealing with them are immediate.
Sometimes important tasks are also urgent, but typically they’re not. When we focus on important activities we operate in a responsive mode, which helps us remain calm, rational, and open to new opportunities. (another way of explaining the concept last week of protection versus growth)
When we know which activities are important and which are urgent, we can overcome the natural tendency to focus on unimportant urgent activities, so that we can clear enough time to do what's essential for our success. This is the way we move from "firefighting" into a position where we can grow our businesses and our careers.
It’s a pretty intuitive distinction, yet most of us frequently fall into the trap of believing that all urgent activities are also important. This propensity likely has roots in our evolutionary history; our ancestors concentrated more on short-term concerns than long-term strategy, as tending to immediate stimuli (like a charging sabre-toothed tiger or bear) could mean the difference between life and death.
Modern technologies (24-hour news, Twitter, Facebook, messaging) that constantly bombard us with information have only heightened this deeply engrained mindset. Our stimulus-producing tech treats all information as equally urgent and pressing. A Z-list celeb’s love life is given the same weight as important governmental decisions or major disasters in foreign lands.
We are, as author Douglas Rushkoff claims, experiencing “present shock” – a condition in which “we live in a continuous, always-on ‘now’” and lose our sense of long-term narrative and direction. In such a state, it is easy to lose sight of the distinction between the truly important and the merely urgent.
The consequences of this priority-blindness are both personal and organisational. In our own lives, we suffer from burnout and stagnation, and on a broader level our culture is unable to solve the truly important problems facing us from an organisational point of view.
“The urgent finds you; you have to find the important. Importance is not fast. It is slow. It is not superficial. It is deep. And as a result, it’s extremely powerful. When important matters go wrong, they undermine everything. When they do right, they sustain everything” – Stewart Brand
So how did Eisenhower and all those who have used his principle apply it?
They key is to prioritise your activities based on a 4 quadrant model of urgency versus importance. Once categorised we need to treat each one differently, so you can remain consciously aware of the type of task you are doing and why.
To use this principle, list all of the activities and projects that you feel you have to do. Try to include everything that takes up your time at work, however unimportant.
Next, think about each activity and put it into one of four quadrants. Then use the strategies below to keep as much as possible of your time above the important line.
Quadrant 1. Important and Urgent (Do First)
Quadrant 1 tasks typically consist of crises, problems, or deadlines.
There are two distinct types of urgent and important activities: ones that you could not have foreseen, and others that you've left until (or have been given at) the last minute.
You can eliminate last-minute activities by planning ahead and avoiding procrastination.
However, you can't always predict or avoid some issues and crises. Here, the best approach is to leave some time in your schedule to handle unexpected issues and unplanned important activities. (Outlook calls this focus time!)
If you have a lot of urgent and important activities, identify which of these you could have foreseen, and think about how you could schedule similar activities ahead of time, so that they don't become urgent.
“Our greatest danger in life is permitting the urgent things to crowd out the important”. - Charles E Hummel
With a bit of planning and organisation, many Q1 tasks can be made more efficient or even eliminated outright. For example, instead of waiting until the last minute to work on a proposal or presentation (thus turning it into an urgent task), you could schedule your time so that you’re done a few days in advance. Or instead of waiting for something in your house to fall apart and need fixing, you can follow a schedule of regular maintenance.
While we’ll never be able to completely eliminate urgent and important tasks, we can significantly reduce them with a bit of proactivity and by spending more time in Quadrant 2.
Quadrant 2. Important but Not Urgent (Schedule)
These are the activities that help you achieve your personal and professional goals, and complete important work.
Quadrant 2 tasks are typically centred around strengthening relationships, planning for the future, and improving yourself. They are the activities that don’t have a pressing deadline, but nonetheless help you achieve your important personal or work goals as well as help you fulfil your overall mission. We need as many of our team focussed on these to ensure we deliver against the organisational strategy, priorities and goals.
According to Covey, we should seek to spend most of our time on Q2 activities, as they’re the ones that provide us lasting happiness, fulfilment, and success. Unfortunately, there are a couple key challenges that keep us from investing enough time and energy into Q2 tasks:
We don’t know what’s truly important to us. If we don’t have clarity on what values and goals matter most, we won’t know what things to spend our time on to reach those aims! Instead, we latch onto whatever stimuli and to-dos are most urgent. If it feels like you’re lacking clarity on either your personal life mission or the Corporate goals you’re working towards, I highly recommend you challenge yourself or your leadership team to help articulate them (from a personal perspective I’ve written blogs about setting goals, finding your mission etc. From a professional perspective, I feel like I’m spending a lot of my time pushing for clarity in this space)
“When we have priorities, we can distinguish between urgent and important.” – Michael Hyatt
Present bias. As already mentioned, we all have an inclination to focus on whatever is most pressing at the moment. Doing so is our default mode. It’s hard to get motivated to do something when there isn’t a deadline looming over our head. Departing from this fallback position takes willpower and self-discipline – qualities that don’t come naturally and must be actively cultivated and expressed, but reap the most wonderful rewards.
Because Q2 activities aren’t pressing for our attention, we typically keep them forever on the backburner of our lives and tell ourselves, “I’ll get to those things ‘someday’ after I’ve taken care of this urgent stuff.” We even put off figuring out what’s most important in life, which of course only perpetuates a cycle where all we ever take care of are the most urgent to-dos on our list.
But “someday” will never come; if you’re waiting to do the important stuff until your schedule clears up a little, trust me when I say that it won’t. You’ll always feel about as busy as you are now, and if anything, life is just getting busier.
To overcome our inherent present-bias that prevents us from focusing on Q2 activities, we must live our lives intentionally and proactively. You can’t run your life in default mode. You have to consciously decide, “I’m going to make time for these things come hell or high water.”
Quadrant 3. Not Important but Urgent (Delegate)
Quadrant 3 tasks are activities that require our attention now (urgent), but don’t help us achieve our goals or fulfil our mission (not important). Most Q3 tasks are interruptions from other people and often involve helping them meet their own goals and fulfil their priorities.
Covey says that many people spend most of their time on Q3 tasks, all the while thinking they’re working in Q1. Because Q3 tasks do help others out, they definitely feel important. Plus they’re also usually tangible tasks, the completion of which gives you that sense of satisfaction that comes from checking something off your list.
But while Q3 tasks may be important to others, they’re not important to you. They’re not necessarily bad, but they need to be balanced with your Q2 activities. Otherwise, you’ll end up feeling like you’re getting a lot done from day-to-day, while eventually realising that you’re not actually making any progress in your own goals. That’s a recipe for personal frustration and resentment.
People who spend most of their time working on Urgent but Not Important Tasks often suffer from “Nice Guy Syndrome,” and want to constantly please others at the expense of their own happiness.
Quadrant 4. Not Important and Not Urgent (Don’t Do!)
These activities are just a distraction – avoid them if possible.
“When the urgent crowds out the important, people urgently accomplish nothing of value” – Orrin Woodward.
I think if most of us did a time audit on ourselves, we’d find that we spend an inordinate amount of time on Q4 activities. I’m sure most of us have those “I’m wasting my life” moments after we’ve spent hours surfing the web and realise, we could have used that time to pursue our more ennobling life goals. No? Just me? Dang it.
As a pragmatist, I don’t think you need to eliminate Q4 activities altogether from your life. After a particularly hectic and busy morning, randomly browsing the internet or watching a favourite TV show for a half hour is exactly what my brain needs to decompress (for me its comedy sketches over my lunch to bring laughter and re-balance myself).
Instead of aiming to completely rid yourself of Not Urgent and Not Important tasks, try to only spend a very limited amount of time on them. 5% or less of your working hours is a good goal.
So what now?
My challenge to you this week is to apply the Eisenhower Decision Matrix to as many aspects of your life as you can. When faced with a decision, stop and ask yourself, “Am I doing this because it’s important or am I doing it because it’s merely urgent?”
I promise as you spend most of your time working on Not Urgent but Important tasks, you’ll feel a renewed sense of calm, control, and composure in your life. You’ll feel like you’re making real progress.
By investing your time in Q2’s planning/organising activities, you can prevent and eliminate many of the crises and problems of Q1, balance the requests of Q3 with your own needs, and truly enjoy the veg-outs of Q4, knowing that you’ve earned the rest.
By making Q2 tasks your top priority, no matter the emergency, annoyance, or deadline you’re hit with, you’ll have the mental, emotional, and physical wherewithal to respond positively, rather than react defensively. To help you I attach a simple pdf that you can use to assign your to do (so 4 rather 1) and also if you’re interested there’s a web app so you can do it online: https://app.eisenhower.me/
And I’ll leave you with 5 extra time management tips
Putting things to-do on a list frees your mind. But always question what is worth doing first.
Try limiting yourself to no more than eight tasks per quadrant. Before adding another one, complete the most important one first. Remember: It is not about collecting but finishing tasks.
You should always maintain only one list for both business and private tasks. That way you will never be able to complain about not having done anything for your family or yourself at the end of the day.
Do not let you or others distract you. Do not let others define your priority. Plan in the morning, then work on your stuff. And in the end, enjoy the feeling of completion. (note this does not mean you should disregard the boundaries, priorities and focus set within your team – this is about within your remit of control only)
Finally, try not to procrastinate that much. Not even by over-managing your to-dos.
Until next week….
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