Steven Covey’s four quadrant model model for clarifying what we should focus on in life is a great tool for anyone making the 365 Commitment. Use it! Categorize your goals and tasks into one of the four boxes.
It’s a 2×2 box model with “Important” and “Not Important” labeling the bottom, and “Urgent” and “Not Urgent” on the side. You can see my stunning artwork below which avoids Internet copyright violations.
Quadrant 2, (Important/Not) gets neglected in favor of, Quadrant 1 (Urgent/Important). For example, I bought a fixer upper type house almost 2 years ago. Fixing it up has been in Quad 2. So, I have neglected it in favor of all the urgent fires that must be put out. I’m not even mentioning Q3 & Q4 (total wastes of time).
Funny thing is Q2 items will become Q1 items eventually. And when they does it’s usually extra painful! For example, next week I have family coming to our house from across the country! Yikes! That back yard full of weeds and ugly gravel which has been on my back burner for almost 2 years; and, the interior paint job that never happened after we moved in due to more urgent needs, like a floor and and A/C, suddenly moved into the Urgent and Important category. I’m having to do double time work to get them in ship shape. Literally working as hard as I can to get them done, hauling decomposed granite into my back yard via wheel barrow – fun!
Covey talks about how more focus of effort on Q2 stuff creates the biggest lift in our lives long term. Perhaps, instead of waiting until Q2 stuff becomes Q1, I can work some of the things that are in my Q2, especially relationship stuff, into my 365 Commitment daily list.
That’s the point, categorize your list using the 4 Quadrant tool and make sure and focus on Q2 stuff as much as possible and cut out the Q3 & 4 stuff altogether. 365!
Ben Wagner (143)
Member The 365 Commitment
