Plan for Success with Effective Time Management

This is an old topic, covered by thousands of authors and experts, yet the problem persists: hectic work schedules point to the need for balance and time management. In his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey developed a “Time Management Matrix” to help time-crunched professionals make effective choices.

In the “Time Management Matrix” there are essentially two factors that define any activity you do: importance and urgency. Activities that are urgent and important (quadrant I) are crises, immediate problems and projects with a pressing deadline. Activities that are important and not urgent (quadrant II) are things like planning, leisure, relationship building, developing new projects, and preventing possible future problems. The third quadrant consists of activities that are urgent and not important. These are activities like interruptions and some phone calls, mail, reporting, and meetings. The fourth quadrant consists of activities that are not urgent and not important. These are things like minutiae, busy work, time wasters, web surfing, and some phone calls, reports and no value added meetings.

The Time Management Matrix

© 1990 Stephen Covey

Clearly, the best place to spend our energies is in Quadrant II. But how do we get there? The answer is to minimize the time we spend in Quadrants III and IV. Nothing in either of these quadrants is important. Quadrant I is filled with activities that we must deal with.

For more help managing your own limited resources and time, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is available from Amazon.com.