Me: How do you accomplish so much?
My Mentor: Ah, I think about time differently than most people.
Me: How so?
My Mentor: Every Sunday between 7 and 9am I plan my week. I look at all the things I want to accomplish this year, and I ask, “what can I do this week that will move those yearly goals forward?”
For example, this year I want to co-author a paper, I want to have the top client performance, and I want to raise the most money for a charity ball.
Me: How do you manage your time?
My Mentor: I use the Quadrant Method. It is a 2×2 matrix with urgent and non-urgent across the top and important and not-important down the side.
The four quadrants are:
Quadrant I: Urgent and Important
These are tasks that I will likely do this week. They are things that come up. General work things. Clients wanting feedback or assignments due. For the most part these things have to be done. Crisis would also fit in this Quadrant.
Quadrant II: Non-urgent and Important
These are long-time tasks where I will not see the tangible benefit this week, or this month, maybe not even this year. This is where I read the latest research in my industry, I study self-improvement for example looking at my strengthens and developing them. I develop my goals for the next year, 5 years, and even 10 years. I use this time to build important relationships to help my career in the long term.
Quadrant III: Urgent and not-important
These are poorly thought-out meetings or meetings where you meant to talk about the project but ended up talking about the World Cup. Time spent on other people’s problems. Time spent waiting.
Quadrant IV: Non-urgent and not-important
These are the things we can all agree, that at the end of the week, they did not contribute to our goals. It could be binge watching Netflix, eating junk food, wasting time thinking you are doing something productive, like driving around or researching the difference between two pairs of running shoes on Amazon. Facebook – do I need to say more?
We all have the same amount of time. The biggest difference between an extraordinary career and an average career is the Quadrant people spend their time in. People who are unsuccessful spend a lot of time in Quadrant III. They think they are working on important things but rather this quadrant does not contribute to success as can be said for quadrant IV as both equally consume time with no reward.
People who have an extraordinary careers spend dedicated time in Quadrant II. They study. They plan. They execute. They do it first thing in the morning.
I’ll be honest, I did not get this right. I tried to read first thing in the morning, instead of checking emails. On Sunday I would try to get up early and make a plan for the week. I wasn’t always disciplined to do this method. However, when I did do them my productivity went up by 10X!
So I challenge you to think, plan & execute.
I starting doing this more often. The more I did it, the more good things came my way.
Why not spend time this week in Quadrant II? What will you do? Write me and tell me about it. If you want to find out more about this method, let’s chat! Email for a time.
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Carol
