Day Twenty-Four of The Thirty Day Proactive Test

My Continuing Analysis of Stephen J. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Day 24 of The 30 Day Proactive Test

Four Generations of Time Management

In Habit 3 (put first things first), we are dealing with many of the questions addressed in the field of life and time management. Personal management has evolved in a pattern similar to other areas of human endeavor. Major developmental thrusts or "waves" as Alvin Toffler calls them, follow each other in succession, each adding a vital new dimension.

The first generation could be characterized by notes and checklists.

The second generation could be characterized by calendars and appointment books. This wave reflects an attempt to look ahead, to schedule events and activities in the future.

The third generation reflects the current time management field. It adds to those preceding generations the important idea of prioritization, of clarifying values and of comparing the relative worth of activities based on their relationship to those values. In addition it focuses on setting goals---specific long, intermediate and short-term targets toward which time and energy would be directed in harmony with values. It also includes the concept of daily planning, of making a specific plan to accomplish those goals and activities determined to be of greatest worth.

The fourth generation recognizes that time management is really a misnomer. The challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves.

Rather than focusing on time and things, fourth generation expectations focus on preserving and enhancing relationships and on accomplishing results.

Quadrant II

The essential focus of the fourth generation of management can be illustrated in the time management matrix diagrammed below. Basically, we spend time in one of four ways.

The Time Management Matrix

	Urgent	Not Urgent
Important	Quadrant I Activities: Crises Pressing problems Deadline-driven projects	Quadrant II Activities: Prevention, production capability activities* Relationship building Recognizing new opportunities Planning, recreation
Not important	Quadrant III Activities: Interruptions, some calls Some mail, some reports Some meetings Pressing matters Popular activities	Quadrant IV Activities: Trivia Busy work Some mail Some phone calls Time wasters Pleasant activities

*Production is our ability to produce something (or in other words, our ability to do productive work), while production capability is our ability to maintain the level of production (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People pg. 151).

As you can see, the two factors that define an activity are urgent and important. Urgent means it requires immediate attention. Urgent things act on us.

Importance, on the other hand, has to do with results. If something is important, it contributes to your mission, your values, your high priority goals. We react to urgent matters. Important matters that are not urgent, require more initiative, more proactivity. We must act to seize opportunity, to make things happen. If we do not practice Habit 2 (begin with the end in mind), if we do not have a clear idea of what is important, of the results we desire in our lives, we are easily diverted into responding to the urgent.

Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, thy are not important. They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II.

Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management. It deals with things that are not urgent but are important. It deals with things like building relationships, writing a personal mission statement, long range planning, exercising, preventive maintenance, preparation---all those things we know we need to do, but somehow seldom get around to doing, because they are not urgent.

To be continued...