(1) Do something. Just stop sitting around and take action. Every minute you’re sitting around checking Facebook, you’re not taking action getting you closer to you dreams
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(2) Plan what you’re taking action about. Don’t just take action willy-nilly. Actually have a plan. Think things through. Do one thing in the right order before you need to do the next thing in order to get where you want to go.
Here is a two-by-two matrix used to help remind you to plan things out before you take action each week.
At the start of every week, write a two-by-two matrix on a blank sheet of paper where on side of the matrix says "urgent" and "not urgent" and the other side of the matrix say "important" and "not important". Then, write all the thing you want to do that week.
Let’s think of each quadrant:
Quadrant 1: Urgent-Important. These are the most pressing of tasks we’ll likely get to this week. These are the crises that erupt. The most pressing meetings or deadlines fall into this category. When we do fire-fighting, it’s all relating to stuff in this quadrant.
Quadrant 2: Not Urgent – Important. These are the things that matter in the long-term but will yield no tangible benefits this week or even this year. They are things we know we need to get to but probably will push off. It’s having a lunch with an important contact or client. Relationship-building. Some long-term planning. It could be attending a conference to learn about some new area that you’ve heard a little bit about and which sounds promising but might not pan out into anything.
Quadrant 3: Urgent – Not Important. These tasks are the biggest reason we’re not more successful in the long-term. They clog up our time today but, when we look back at these things at the end of the week, we’ll have to admit they were a waste of time. These are interruptions that happen, such as phone calls. These are poorly thought-out meetings that soak up our time, but which we have to attend because we already accepted the invite. These are other activities which we tell ourselves in the moment that we must do but — if we stopped ourselves to really think about — we’d realize they aren’t that important.
Quadrant 4: Not Urgent – Not Important. These things we do because we feel like we’re tired and need a break. It’s watching a mindless TV show at the end of the day. It’s checking and rechecking Facebook and Twitter during the day, because we think we might miss something. It mind be mindlessly eating potato chips, even though we’re not hungry. We prioritize these things in the moment and obviously derive some pleasure from them, but they are really not urgent or important. Yet, we’d be amazed how much time we waste in a given week on these tasks.
What you’ll quickly realize is that you’ve only been spending time on urgent tasks each week. It’s a constant fire-drill. You’re simply trying to get one thing off your plate, so you can breathe for half a second and get to the next emergency to get off your plate.
You have to – as much as you can – eliminate the Quadrant 4 tasks (not urgent and not important). Just say no to Facebook. Shut them off.. They’re a time suck. Mark Zuckerberg has built a $100 billion empire off our inability to stop doing Quadrant 4 stuff!
(2) Plan what you’re taking action about. Don’t just take action willy-nilly. Actually have a plan. Think things through. Do one thing in the right order before you need to do the next thing in order to get where you want to go.
Here is a two-by-two matrix used to help remind you to plan things out before you take action each week.
At the start of every week, write a two-by-two matrix on a blank sheet of paper where on side of the matrix says "urgent" and "not urgent" and the other side of the matrix say "important" and "not important". Then, write all the thing you want to do that week.
Let’s think of each quadrant:
Quadrant 1: Urgent-Important. These are the most pressing of tasks we’ll likely get to this week. These are the crises that erupt. The most pressing meetings or deadlines fall into this category. When we do fire-fighting, it’s all relating to stuff in this quadrant.
Quadrant 2: Not Urgent – Important. These are the things that matter in the long-term but will yield no tangible benefits this week or even this year. They are things we know we need to get to but probably will push off. It’s having a lunch with an important contact or client. Relationship-building. Some long-term planning. It could be attending a conference to learn about some new area that you’ve heard a little bit about and which sounds promising but might not pan out into anything.
Quadrant 3: Urgent – Not Important. These tasks are the biggest reason we’re not more successful in the long-term. They clog up our time today but, when we look back at these things at the end of the week, we’ll have to admit they were a waste of time. These are interruptions that happen, such as phone calls. These are poorly thought-out meetings that soak up our time, but which we have to attend because we already accepted the invite. These are other activities which we tell ourselves in the moment that we must do but — if we stopped ourselves to really think about — we’d realize they aren’t that important.
Quadrant 4: Not Urgent – Not Important. These things we do because we feel like we’re tired and need a break. It’s watching a mindless TV show at the end of the day. It’s checking and rechecking Facebook and Twitter during the day, because we think we might miss something. It mind be mindlessly eating potato chips, even though we’re not hungry. We prioritize these things in the moment and obviously derive some pleasure from them, but they are really not urgent or important. Yet, we’d be amazed how much time we waste in a given week on these tasks.
What you’ll quickly realize is that you’ve only been spending time on urgent tasks each week. It’s a constant fire-drill. You’re simply trying to get one thing off your plate, so you can breathe for half a second and get to the next emergency to get off your plate.
You have to – as much as you can – eliminate the Quadrant 4 tasks (not urgent and not important). Just say no to Facebook. Shut them off.. They’re a time suck. Mark Zuckerberg has built a $100 billion empire off our inability to stop doing Quadrant 4 stuff!
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