Saturday, December 1, 2018

prioritizing your work as a leader

shallow focus photography of person writing on book


"...author Stephen Covey coined Eisenhower's Urgent/Important Principle in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The tool is based on the way President Dwight D. Eisenhower prioritized the tasks that demanded his attention. This principle recognizes that tasks typically fall into one of four quadrants--and that we tend to complete them in this order:
  1. Urgent and Important: Things that are important to do and need to be done now.
  2. Urgent and Not Important: Minor tasks that are time-sensitive. It feels good to check these off our lists, but they aren't really critical.
  3. Important and Not Urgent: Things that need to be done but don't have to be done immediately.
  4. Not Urgent and Not Important: These tasks are neither important nor time-sensitive."

"A few years ago, I began organizing my to-do list into the following buckets (I have put them in recommended order and outlined my thinking for each):
  1. Urgent and Important:  Do them because you have to, and delegate where possible to get tasks done right.
  2. Important and Not Urgent:  This is the most important bucket because these things move us toward our big-picture achievements. The key to getting these tasks done is to make time each day or week to move toward your goals. 
  3. Urgent and Not Important: Get these off your plate and don't let them distract you. Keep your eyes on the prize!
  4. Not Urgent and Not Important: Do your best to avoid these entirely."



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