Harpooners:
As we set into the groove of 2021, let us be reminded of our excitement and eagerness to change our habits for the better this year. Like many great things in life, we will have to work toward this structure or change in lifestyle by incrementally developing tools that set us up for success.
One of the best tools I’ve come across in prioritizing tasks and energy is a tool called the Eisenhower Box. James Clear talks about this as well as one of the greats, Stephen Covey.
The premise is this: although we have been taught to tackle the loudest task first, it isn’t always the one of greatest priority. In alignment with the roles or mission that we defined during the first week of the year, we must also align priorities toward “the big ideas” or the tasks that define who we are and what makes us happiest.
Essentially you’ll separate your tasks into four different categories:
- Urgent and important (tasks you will do now or ASAP).
- Important, but not urgent (tasks you will schedule for the future).
- Urgent, but not important (tasks you will delegate).
- Neither urgent nor important (tasks that you will stop doing).
This short video describes it in an amazing way and shows you the GRID. [P.S. Did you know that you can watch videos on 2x Speed? Click the cog wheel. It’ll blow your mind.]
The hardest part about adopting this mentality is defining which tasks fit in the appropriate locations AND convincing yourself to focus your efforts in the right places. Our current lifestyle is groomed to respond to the incessant on-pouring of texts, emails and social media. We feel a sense of urgency in responding to all messages as quickly as possible. There’s a sense of panic when we don’t have access to cell phone service or Wifi. I’m not saying it isn’t important, it just might not be as important as you really want it to be.
Cool so how do I use this tool? Draw out the grid! Then take a short amount of time (with all your notifications set to OFF!) and list some things that apply to your life. Apply that list to the grids!
To best accommodate the implementation of this matrix, I implemented a style of “chunking” into my weeks and days. For example, Mondays & Wednesdays are my “big ideal” days or Quadrant 2 Days. These are the days I carve out huge chunks of time to write things like this Mondays with Maddie or to think about the upcoming projects we are working on for Harpoon. They allow me to have time to mentor our leadership team, to plan the next stage of Harpoon, and to review what hasn’t gone well. They require creative head space and shouldn’t be interrupted if at all possible.
On Tuesdays & Thursdays, I coach in the middle of the day more, which doesn’t allow as large of a chunk of time to get into my creative spirit so I tend to tackle Quadrant 3 tasks: Things that need to be addressed within 48 hours but aren’t life or death. I pay bills, change memberships, make orders, etc. It’s stuff that will take ten or so minutes per task and I can just chip away at them.
Using this matrix can help you plan and stay ahead of the things that are most important to you. If you do a good enough job working in quadrant two, you won’t HAVE to spend as much time in Quadrant One or Three, and I’d even argue, you won’t have to “Check out” in Quadrant Four as much either because you won’t be so burnt out.
It’s a tool just like anything else, and can take some time to make changes. Truthfully, I implemented this tool about 18 months ago and only in the past six months do I truly feel like I’m in the rhythm. Things take time, and good things are worth it.