thinkArete.com

#231 Quadrant II

think@thinkArete.com (Brian Johnson) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

“Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they aren’t 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.”

…

“What one thing could you do in your personal and professional life that, if you did on a regular basis, would make a tremendous positive difference in your life? Quadrant II activities have that kind of impact. Our effectiveness takes quantum leaps when we do them.”

~ Stephen R. Covey from “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”

Stephen Covey has a 4-quadrant model for time management.

Urgent

Not Urgent

Important

Quadrant I

Time Spent In: Fire drills, Crises, Deadline-driven projects

Results: Stress, burnout, always putting out fires

Quadrant II

Time Spent In: Self-Development, Relationship building, Envisioning your future, Exercise/Recreation

Results: Happiness :)

Not Important

Quadrant III

Time Spent In: Interruptions, Unscheduled phone calls, pressing stuff

Results: short-term focus, thinks goals and plans are worthless

Quadrant IV

Time Spent In: Distractions, Wasting time, Busy work, Pleasant Activities

Results: Getting fired, total irresponsibility

Notice the two factors that define an activity in this model: Is it urgent? And, Is it important?

Pretty straight-forward. Urgent means it’s demanding our attention (NOW!) Important means it’s worth doing.

Take a very close look at Quadrant II: the Important but Not Urgent stuff.

We want to play there.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t spend anywhere near enough time there—we’re dancing in and out of the other 3 quadrants: distracting ourselves (IV), allowing interruptions to pester us throughout the day (III), or putting out one fire-drill-crisis after another (I).

Eek.

Take a deep breath.

Take an inventory of where you’re currently spending the most time. What % do you spend where?

Find (make that, SCHEDULE!) time to play in Quadrant II (even that activity will be a Q II activity :)).

Exercise. Spend time in self-development. Develop yourself and your relationships.

…

See ya in Quadrant II, my friend!

…

“Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity-minded.”

#230 The Common Denominator of Success

think@thinkArete.com (Brian Johnson) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

E. M. Gray wrote one of my favorite essays (it’s free on the site in the “wisdom” section!). It’s called “The Common Denominator of Success.”

The Big Idea?

“The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do… They don’t like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.”

Wow.

Well, that’s powerful.

So, successful people do what failures don’t like to do.

Making the phone call they need to make. Having the conversation they need to have. Doing the little thing they don’t “feel” like doing. Getting up early. Working out. Whatever.

Done. Done. Done. Done. Done. Done.

What are you not doing simply b/c you don’t feel like it?

Um.

Let’s do it.

NOW.

#229 Emotional Bank Deposits

think@thinkArete.com (Brian Johnson) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

In his seminal book, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey describes a process of making deposits into an “emotional bank account” with those you love.

The six major types of deposits that build the Emotional Bank Account:

Understanding the Individual. Few people actually take the time to listen to and understand someone. Be one of those people. Slow down. Seek to understand.

Attending to Little Things. Do you consistently do the little things to show your love? Little forms of disrespect are large withdrawals. Make little deposits of kindness all the time.

Keeping Commitments. Keep your Account high by honoring your commitments. One of the easiest ways to make huge withdrawals is to not keep your word.

Clarifying Expectations. A cause of most relationship challenges is rooted in conflicting or ambiguous expectations around roles and goals. Take the time to clarify.

Showing Personal Integrity. Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty. Do your actions truly line up with your words? Be integrated. Make big deposits.

Apologizing Sincerely When You Make a Withdrawal. Learn how to say “I was wrong. I’m deeply sorry.” It takes a huge amount of character to apologize sincerely and quickly. Do it.

Here’s to being Emotional Bank Account billionaires. :)

#228 Public & Private Victories

think@thinkArete.com (Brian Johnson) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

“Private Victory precedes Public Victory. Algebra comes before calculus.”

~ Stephen R. Covey

from “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”

In his “Seven Habits,” Covey makes the brilliant point that PRIVATE victory comes BEFORE public victory.

Simply: if we want all the joys of outward success, first we must master ourselves.

Quite simple.

Don’t start by chasing outward success.

Let the public acclaim flow OUT OF our own self-mastery.

#227 Weekly Roles & Goals

think@thinkArete.com (Brian Johnson) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

In another Big Idea, we looked at Covey’s time management concept of creating “Roles & Goals.”

Quick re-cap.

We all have “Roles” we play in life. Some of mine: Student, Teacher, Lover, Friend, Entrepreneur, Athlete.

His Big Idea?

We need to create WEEKLY Goals for each of our Roles.

So, mine look something like this:

Student: Embrace life and seek to grow every moment; work with Teacher Role to get 75 Big Ideas done.

Teacher: Create 75 Big Ideas

Lover: Do something special for 6-month anniversary with my Goddess. :)

Friend: Send copies of “Five Wishes” to my friends

Entrepreneur: Launch thinkArete.com on Oct 26^th with 500 Big Ideas

Athlete: Spend an hour on my body every day (w/rest day massage)

How about you?

…

Imagine a life when we do that every week…

And then line up our actions consistent with our highest priorities.

Powerful. VERY powerful.