Do This Instead...
A wise man knows how to use his time. A very wise man knows how to MAKE time.
One of the most frequent goals my clients come to me for, is time management. They want to be more productive. That is what happens when a wise man knows how to use his time - he gets more done.
My job is to encourage my clients to be like the very wise man and make time. He does more than just get a lot done. He gets the right stuff done. He knows what his priorities are and makes time for them.
How do I "Make" Time?
Let's ask President Eisenhower...
The matrix above is known as the Eisenhower Matrix because the president is known to have said, “I have 2 kinds of problems, urgent ones and important ones. The urgent ones are not important, and the important ones are not urgent.” Steven Covey, in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, expands on this idea.
Basically, any task or project we have to do can fit into one of these quadrants. Here on the top row, we see there are 2 kinds of priorities – Those that are both urgent and important (going to the dentist when you have a bad toothache, for example) and important priorities without any urgency (going to the oral hygienist).
To become effective, we need to make time for tasks from the second quadrant, the important priorities that do not have any urgency (for example, working on long term goals, maintaining relationships or exercising).
How Does Focusing on Priorities Make us More Effective?
Attending to our priorities fuels us up to be more productive. When you are in good health, you can do more. When you feel energized and positive because you worked on a passion project, you can do more. When you have good, solid relationships, you feel fulfilled and can do more.
But moreover, in a world full of competing priorities, making time for these things (committing to them) forces us to let go of the less important things, like tasks from the bottom row of the matrix. Quadrant 3 are things that feel urgent in the moment, but are not actually important (commenting on Facebook, for example). Quadrant 4 are neither urgent nor important. They are time-robbers that the effective person aims to avoid or at least limit.
So, the wise man knows how to be productive - to get more stuff done.
The very wise man knows how to be effective - to get the right stuff done.
To be effective, we want to be productive with our priorities. That's how we live on purpose!
Want to know how to be more effective? Sign up for my online masterclass -
Time Management with A Twist:
How To Get Productive With Your Priorities, so You Can Live on Purpose!