We don’t find TIME, we MAKE time

Now we have clarity on our DREAM and we have a roadmapped PLAN to achieve, what could go wrong? EVERYTHING!

Life happens, and before we know it TIME has slipped away. We can’t find time, but we can MAKE time. What I mean by that is we can protect our time so that it doesn’t disappear without knowing where it went.

Time is a precious and limited commodity, and yet we often feel pressured to give it away when we have the ability to say no. There are times when you might not have a choice, such as when your boss says a project has high priority. But don’t let obligations dictate how you spend the hours of your day. You are in control of your own time. Push back when it’s appropriate, or tactfully disengage from those people or situations that submerge your schedule.

Stephen Covey was an influential writer, businessman, and expert on management policy. His book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide (in fact, you probably have one of them). But in our daily effort just to survive, chances are we’ve let much of its advice fall by the wayside.

If we fail to schedule time for what’s truly important to our growth, we end up being overwhelmed by a seemingly limitless number of responsibilities.

In our experience, we see leaders dedicating far too much time to Quadrant 1 activities. Now, it’s impossible to avoid these completely, but if we’re spending too much time in Quadrant 1 it’s a good indication that our systems are weak or our staff isn’t empowered to proactively resolve problems. It should be clear, just like Covey points out, that the more time we invest in Quadrant 2 the more that Quadrant 1 problems will disappear.

It goes without saying that we should limit or avoid time spent in the 3rd and 4th quadrants.

But as leaders, it’s often much harder to determine how we should split our time between Quadrants 1 and 2.

So how might spending more time in Quadrant 2 look?