All of us have the same number of hours in a day, and no amount of effort can change that. What we can influence is how we spend those hours.
A quote from Stephen Covey sums up how we can best use our time: "I am personally persuaded that the best thinking in the area of time management can be captured in a single phrase: Organize and execute around priorities."
Quadrant 1 represents things which are both urgent and important. The activities need to be dealt with immediately, and they're important.
Quadrant 2 represents things which are important, but not urgent. Although the activities here are important, and contribute to achieving the goals and priorities - they don't have to be done right now. As a result, they can be scheduled in when you can give quality thought to them. A good example would be the preparation of an important talk, or mentoring a key individual. Prayer time, family time and personal relaxation/recreation are also part of Quadrant 2.
Quadrant 3 are distractions. They must be dealt with right now, but frankly, are not important. For example, when you answer an unwanted phone call, - you've had to interrupt whatever you were doing to answer it.
The final quadrant, Quadrant 4, are things which are neither urgent nor important. Some meetings could fall into this category - they've been scheduled in advance, but if they achieve nothing, or you don't contribute to them, then they have simply wasted time. Other examples could include driving time and low quality relaxation or family time.
Using the tool: consciously strive to maximize Quadrant 2 time. Allocate time in your diary to carry out these tasks when you are at your best. Doing so can reduce the amount of time taken up by firefighting quadrant 1 activities, since many quadrant 1 activities could have been quadrant 2 if they had been done earlier.
You can also seek to reduce time spent in Quadrant 3 by improving your systems and processes for dealing with distractions, and you can seek to eliminate as much as possible of quadrant 4 activities, by either not spending time on these things, or changing the nature of them to make them more productive. For example, driving can be quadrant 4 if the time is unproductive, but there are a number of ways of making this time more productive by listening to a podcast,dictating notes, planning and so on.
Check out Wikipedia's entry for downloads, worksheets and links. Seven Habits entry.
Stephen Covey's site.
Randy Pausch's Time Management Lecture video
A quote from Stephen Covey sums up how we can best use our time: "I am personally persuaded that the best thinking in the area of time management can be captured in a single phrase: Organize and execute around priorities." Quadrant 1 represents things which are both urgent and important. The activities need to be dealt with immediately, and they're important.
Quadrant 2 represents things which are important, but not urgent. Although the activities here are important, and contribute to achieving the goals and priorities - they don't have to be done right now. As a result, they can be scheduled in when you can give quality thought to them. A good example would be the preparation of an important talk, or mentoring a key individual. Prayer time, family time and personal relaxation/recreation are also part of Quadrant 2.
Quadrant 3 are distractions. They must be dealt with right now, but frankly, are not important. For example, when you answer an unwanted phone call, - you've had to interrupt whatever you were doing to answer it.
The final quadrant, Quadrant 4, are things which are neither urgent nor important. Some meetings could fall into this category - they've been scheduled in advance, but if they achieve nothing, or you don't contribute to them, then they have simply wasted time. Other examples could include driving time and low quality relaxation or family time.
Using the tool: consciously strive to maximize Quadrant 2 time. Allocate time in your diary to carry out these tasks when you are at your best. Doing so can reduce the amount of time taken up by firefighting quadrant 1 activities, since many quadrant 1 activities could have been quadrant 2 if they had been done earlier.
You can also seek to reduce time spent in Quadrant 3 by improving your systems and processes for dealing with distractions, and you can seek to eliminate as much as possible of quadrant 4 activities, by either not spending time on these things, or changing the nature of them to make them more productive. For example, driving can be quadrant 4 if the time is unproductive, but there are a number of ways of making this time more productive by listening to a podcast,dictating notes, planning and so on.
Check out Wikipedia's entry for downloads, worksheets and links. Seven Habits entry.
Stephen Covey's site.
Randy Pausch's Time Management Lecture video
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