urgent and important time management matrix

The judgement as to whether activities are urgent, important, both or neither, is crucial for good time management. Most inexperienced people, and people who are not good at time management, nor in managing their environment, tend to spend most of their time in boxes 1 and 3. Poor time managers tend to prioritise tasks (and thereby their time), according to who shouted last and loudest (interestingly, loudness normally correlates to seniority, which discourages most people from questioning and probing the real importance and urgency of tasks received from bosses and senior managers). Any spare time is typically spent in box 4, which comprises only aimless and non-productive activities. Most people spend the least time of all in box 2, which is the most critical area for success, development and proactive self-determination.

summary overview matrix - (tips on how to manage time and activities in the matrix below this one) urgent important not urgent

1 - DO NOW

2 - PLAN TO DO

emergencies, complaints and crisis issues demands from superiors or customers planned tasks or project work now due meetings and appointments reports and other submissions staff issues or needs problem resolution, fire-fighting, fixes

planning, preparation, scheduling research, investigation, designing, testing networking relationship building thinking, creating, modelling, designing systems and process development anticipation and prevention developing change, direction, strategy

Subject to confirming the importance and the urgency of these tasks, do these tasks now. Prioritise according to their relative Critical to success: planning, urgency. strategic thinking, deciding direction and aims, etc. Plan timeslots and personal space for these tasks.

not important

3 - REJECT AND EXPLAIN

4 - RESIST AND CEASE

trivial requests from others

'comfort' activities,

apparent emergencies ad-hoc interruptions and distractions misunderstandings appearing as complaints pointless routines or activities accumulated unresolved trivia boss's whims or tantrums

Scrutinise and probe demands. Help originators to re-assess. Wherever possible reject and avoid these tasks sensitively and immediately.

computer games, net surfing, excessive cigarette breaks chat, gossip, social communications daydreaming, doodling, over-long breaks reading nonsense or irrelevant material unnecessary adjusting equipment etc. embellishment and overproduction

Habitual 'comforters' not true tasks. Non-productive, de-motivational. Minimise or cease altogether. Plan to avoid them.

time management activities examples and management methods urgent important not urgent

1 - DO NOW

2 - PLAN TO DO

real major emergencies and crisis issues significant demands for information from superiors or customers project work with imminent deadline meetings and appointments reports and other submissions staff issues or needs problem resolution, fire-fighting, fixes serious urgent complaints

Subject to confirming the importance and the urgency of these tasks, these tasks need doing now. Prioritise tasks that fall into this

planning and preparation project planning and scheduling research and investigation networking relationship building thinking and creating modelling, designing, testing systems and process development anticipative, preventative activities or communication identifying need for change and new direction

category according to their relative urgency. If two or more tasks appear equally urgent, discuss and probe the actual requirements and deadlines with the task originators or with the people dependent on the task outcomes. Help the originators of these demands to re-assess the real urgency and priority of these tasks. These tasks should include activities that you'll previously have planned in box 2, which move into box 1 when the time-slot arrives. If helpful you should show your schedule to task originators in order to explain that you are prioritising in a logical way, and to be as productive and effective as possible. Look for ways to break a task into two stages if it's an unplanned demand - often a suitable initial 'holding' response or acknowledgment, with a commitment to resolve or complete at a later date, will enable you to resume other planned tasks.

developing strategy

These tasks are most critical to success, and yet commonly are the most neglected. These activities include planning, strategic thinking, deciding direction and aims, etc., all crucial for success and development. You must plan time-slots for doing these tasks, and if necessary plan where you will do them free from interruptions, or 'urgent' matters from quadrant 1 and 3 will take precedence. Work from home if your normal place of work cannot provide you with a quiet situation and protection from interruption. Break big tasks down into separate logical stages and plan time-slots for each stage. Use project management tools and methods. Inform other people of your planned time-slots and schedules. Having a visible schedule is the key to being able to protect these vital time-slots.

not important

3 - REJECT (DIPLOMATICALLY)

4 - RESIST AND CEASE

trivial and 'off-loaded' requests from others apparent emergencies ad-hoc interruptions misunderstandings appearing as complaints irrelevant distractions pointless routines or activities dealing with accumulated unresolved trivia duplicated effort unnecessary double-checking

unnecessary and unchallenged routines 'comfort' activities; computer games, net surfing, excessive cigarette breaks chat and gossip face-toface and phone social and domestic communications silly emails and text messages

boss's whims or tantrums

Scrutinise these demands ruthlessly, and help originators - even your boss and your senior managers - to re-assess the real importance of these tasks. Practice and develop your ability to explain and justify to task originators why you cannot do these tasks. Where possible reject and avoid these tasks immediately, informing and managing people's expectations and sensitivities accordingly; explain why you cannot do these tasks and help the originator find another way of achieving what they need, which might involve delegation to another person, or re-shaping the demand to be more strategic, with a more sustainable solution. Look for causes of repeating demands in this area and seek to prevent re-occurrence. Educate and train others, including customers, suppliers, fellow staff and superiors, to identify long-term remedies, not just quick fixes. For significant repeating demands in this area, create a project to resolve cause, which will be a quadrant 2 task. Challenge habitual systems, processes, procedures and expectations, eg "we've always done it this way". Help others to manage their own time and priorities, so they don't bounce their pressures onto you. Question old policies and assumptions to see if they are still appropriate.

daydreaming and doodling interrupting others reading nonsense or irrelevant material unnecessary adjusting, tidying, updating equipment, systems, screensavers, etc. over-long breaks, canteen, kitchen visits embellishment and overproduction passive world-watching, TV, drink and drug abuse aimless travel and driving shopping or buying for no purpose

These activities are not tasks, they are habitual comforters which provide a refuge from the effort of discipline and proactivity. These activities affirm the same 'comfort-seeking' tendencies in other people; a group or whole department all doing a lot of this quadrant 4 activity creates a nonproductive and ineffective organizational culture. These activities have no positive outcomes, and are therefore demotivating. Often they may be stress related, so consider why you do these things and if there's a deeper root cause address it. The best method for ceasing these activities, and for removing temptation to gravitate back to them, is to have a clear structure or schedule of tasks for each day, which you should create in

quadrant 2.

1. Create a daily plan. Plan your day before it unfolds. Do it in the morning or even better, the night before you sleep. The plan gives you a good overview of how the day will pan out. That way, you dont get caught off guard. Your job for the day is to stick to the plan as best as possible. 2. Peg a time limit to each task. Be clear that you need to finish X task by 10am, Y task by 3pm, and Z item by 5:30pm. This prevents your work from dragging on and eating into time reserved for other activities. 3. Use a calendar. Having a calendar is the most fundamental step to managing your daily activities. If you use outlook or lotus notes, calendar come as part of your mailing software. Google Calendar is great I use it. Its even better if you can sync it to your mobile phone and other hardwares you use that way, you can access your schedule no matter where you are. 4. Use an organizer. The organizer helps you to be on top of everything in your life. Its your central tool to organize information, to-do lists, projects, and other miscellaneous items. 5. Know your deadlines. When do you need to finish your tasks? Mark the deadlines out clearly in your calendar and organizer so you know when you need to finish them. 6. Learn to say No. Dont take on more than you can handle. For the distractions that come in when youre doing other things, give a firm no. Or defer it to a later period. 7. Target to be early. When you target to be on time, youll either be on time or late. Most of the times youll be late. However, if you target to be early, youll most likely be on time. For appointments, strive to be early. For your deadlines, submit them earlier than required. 8. Time box your activities. This means restricting your work to X amount of time. Read more about time boxing: #5 of 13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity. 9. Have a clock visibly placed before you. Sometimes we are so engrossed in our work that we lose track of time. Having a huge clock in front of you will keep you aware of the time at the moment. 10. Set reminders 15 minutes before. Most calendars have a reminder function. If youve an important meeting to attend, set that alarm 15 minutes before. 11. Focus. Are you multi-tasking so much that youre just not getting anything done? If so, focus on just one key task at one time. Close off all the applications you arent using. Close off the tabs in your browser that are taking away your attention. Focus solely on what youre doing. Youll be more efficient that way. 12. Block out distractions. Whats distracting you in your work? Instant messages? Phone ringing? Text messages popping in? I hardly ever use chat nowadays. The only times when I log on is when Im not intending to do any work. Otherwise it gets very distracting. When Im doing important work, I also switch off my phone. Calls during this time are recorded and I contact them afterward if its something important. This helps me concentrate better. 13. Track your time spent. Egg Timer is a simple online countdown timer. You key in the amount of time you want it to track (example: 30 minutes, 1 hour) and itll count

down in the background. When the time is up,the timer will beep. Great way to be aware of your time spent. 14. Dont fuss about unimportant details Youre never get everything done in exactly the way you want. Trying to do so is being ineffective. Read more: Why Being A Perfectionist May Not Be So Perfect. 15. Prioritize. Since you cant do everything, learn to prioritize the important and let go of the rest. Apply the 80/20 principle which is a key principle in prioritization. Read more about 80/20 in #6 of 13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity. 16. Delegate. If there are things that can be better done by others or things that are not so important, consider delegating. This takes a load off and you can focus on the important tasks. 17. Batch similar tasks together. For related work, batch them together. For example, my work can be categorized into these core groups: (1) writing (articles, my upcoming book) (2) coaching (3) workshop development (4) business development (5) administrative. I batch all the related tasks together so theres synergy. If I need to make calls, I allocate a time slot to make all my calls. It really streamlines the process. 18. Eliminate your time wasters. What takes your time away your work? Facebook? Twitter? Email checking? Stop checking them so often. One thing you can do is make it hard to check them remove them from your browser quick links / bookmarks and stuff them in a hard to access bookmarks folder. Replace your browser bookmarks with important work-related sites. While youll still check FB/Twitter no doubt, youll find its a lower frequency than before. 19. Cut off when you need to. #1 reason why things overrun is because you dont cut off when you have to. Dont be afraid to intercept in meetings or draw a line to cut-off. Otherwise, theres never going to be an end and youll just eat into the time for later. 20. Leave buffer time in-between. Dont pack everything closely together. Leave a 5-10 minute buffer time in between each tasks. This helps you wrap up the previous task and start off on the next one.