The Exclusive Career Coach 271: How to Focus on the Right Things at Work
This week, I want to talk about how to focus on the right things at work, using Stephen Covey’s Four Quadrants.
At its essence, the Four Quadrants is about time management. If you’re anything like me, you’ve had it up to your eyeballs with articles, speakers, and social media posts about how to manage your time better.
So, let’s not go there.
Instead, let’s think about the Four Quadrants as a tool to manage our ACTIVITIES better – so we are focusing on the right things to get the results we are held accountable for achieving.
My challenge for you in this area is this: After listening to this episode, decide to make a small – but significant shift – in one of the quadrants. A shift that will yield substantial results in terms of your productivity.
The Four Quadrants
For the uninitiated – or as a refresher - here are the four quadrants:
Quadrant I – Urgent & Important
Quadrant II – Not Urgent but Important
Quadrant III – Urgent but Not Important
Quadrant IV – Not Urgent & Not Important
Let’s get specific.
Quadrant I is the Quadrant of Necessity – things you need to do immediately. While these things are Urgent & Important, living in this quadrant tends to lead to burnout and takes time away from doing things that are Important but not Urgent.
Examples:
Resolving crises/Putting out fires
Pressing problems
Projects with deadlines
Quadrant II is the Quadrant of Quality – this is where you do important things that lead to real success and long-term viability for your company and yourself. The best way to ensure you are spending an appropriate amount of time in Quadrant II is to calendar these activities in and keep track of what you are doing.
Examples:
Relationship-building/Networking
Planning/Preparation
Prevention
Empowerment
Quadrant III is the Quadrant of Deception – the key here is to recognize that these tasks don’t need to be done right away and may even be delegated. These tasks may seem important in the moment because of their urgency, but they aren’t. The challenge is not allowing someone else’s urgency to become yours – especially if it is due to the other person’s procrastination.
Examples:
Interruptions
Some phone calls
Some mail
Some reports
Some meetings
Quadrant IV is the Quadrant of Waste – activities that aren’t urgent or important. You want to minimize the time you spend in Quadrant IV at all costs.
Examples:
Busy work
Some phone calls
Some mail
Time wasters
So, how do you figure out where the shift needs to take place? Step one is to take an honest look at how you are currently spending your time at work. Some of you may do very similar things each day, so evaluating how you spend your time could be as simple as tracking your activities for one day.
Others of you may have a wide variety of tasks based on the day of the week, time of the month, quarter of the year, or other variables – so you’ll need to evaluate how you spend your time over a longer period of time.
I thought I would use myself as an example – and yes, I’ll let you know the shift I will be making as a result of this exercise.
Quadrant 1 – Urgent & Important
Writing my client’s resumes, cover letters, and LI profiles – 10 hours/week
Coaching calls with clients/Consults with prospective clients – 12 hours/week
Writing and producing this podcast each week – 2 hours/week
Responding to emails from clients, prospective clients, etc – 2 hours/week
In-processing new clients – 1 hour/week
Sunday preparation for the coming week – 1 hour/week
Meeting with my VA and my coach – 1 hour/week
TOTAL: 19 hours/week
Quadrant II – Not Urgent but Important
Attending SHRM meetings - 2 hours/month
Attending Ellevate meetings – 2 hours/week
Other professional development – 2 hours/month
Networking via LI, Fairygodboss – 2 hours/month
Budget management – 1 hour/week
Planning for business growth & expansion including new programs – 4 hours/week
TOTAL: about 7 hours/week
Quadrant III – Urgent but Not Important
I can’t think of anything I do that falls in this category
Quadrant IV – Not Urgent & Not Important
Going down a rabbit hole with unimportant emails – not much time, but should avoid this altogether – 2 hours/week
Here’s what I learned from this exercise: I spend the vast majority of my time in Quadrant I, which can lead to burnout.
I get tremendous satisfaction from planning for the growth of my company, as well as networking – yet I let the Quadrant I activities overtake Quadrant II activities.
I am committing to carving out an additional two hours/week to engage in planning, program development, and business growth.
My question to you is this: What one change will you make that has the potential for a tremendous ROI in your productivity – job satisfaction – results? Let me know!
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