Prioritizing Your Time

In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey identifies four quadrants of time management. Today’s insight will focus on his second quadrant. In this quadrant, he specifically speaks about attending to the work that is important but not yet urgent.  When you dedicate time for what’s important and not yet urgent, you will likely spend less time putting out fires and more time thinking creatively and strategically on the business. Making time for quadrant 2 takes discipline but can result in the mental spaciousness you need to consider new possibilities, different directions, and creative solutions.

0:00:00 – Welcome & Episode Setup
0:00:18 – What Is Quadrant II? (Stephen Covey’s Time Framework)
0:01:10 – What’s Stealing Your Quadrant II Time
0:01:40 – The Power of Making Time for the Non-Urgent
0:02:25 – You Don’t Find Time; You Design It
0:03:00 – Practical Steps to Create Protected Thinking Time
0:03:40 – Strategic Questions to Ask Yourself
0:04:30 – Preparing Your Body for the Practice
0:04:55 – Guided Insight: “I Make Time for What’s Important and Not Yet Urgent”
0:06:01 – Coming Back & The Leadership Payoff
0:06:25 – Outro & Next Steps

To get the most out of these learnings, download the free workbook I created that guides you deeper into each practice. https://innertelligencecoaching.com/on-your-way-in-workbook/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the podcast On Your Way In, where I provide quick and actionable insights for intentional leaders. I'm your host, Sarah Harvey. Today's guided insights centers around making time for what's important and not yet urgent. I have to credit and thank Stephen Covey and his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People for this guided insight. Covey identified the four quadrants of time management. And quadrant two is about attending to the work that's important but not yet urgent. When you're in quadrant two as a leader, you're planning for the future, thinking critically and creatively, building relationships, investing in professional development, and focusing on strategy and values. Unfortunately, so many other things get prioritized that we make little to no time for our essential work in Quadrant 2. Pressing deadlines, unexpected fires, interruptions, excessive meetings, endless emails, and even doing what's popular or simply pleasant all take time away from investing in your future, the future of your team, and the future of your company. So, what's the real value of making time to focus on what's important and not yet urgent? When you dedicate some time to quadrant two, you create mental spaciousness that allows for possibilities in both your business and personal life. Possibilities that you hadn't necessarily considered before. Take away the constraint of urgency and you give yourself the gift of time. With time and space on your side, your mind is freed up to envision and reassess the direction you're heading. You move from working in the business to working on the business. And that is true of your life as well. Your lens widens and you see potential opportunities for improvement with greater ease. The seeds of innovation sprout when you dedicate time for what's important and not yet urgent. The challenge for most leaders is to find the time for this important quadrant. Unfortunately, when it comes down to it, you almost never find the time. Quadrant two time has to be created, set aside, and held sacred. Your success comes down to what you design and prioritize for yourself as a leader. Quadrant two rarely happens by accident or default. In fact, when you aren't consciously and consistently designing your approach to leadership and how you spend your time, you will almost always be too busy for what's important and not yet urgent. The temptation and pressure is huge to focus almost entirely on the daily fires in front of you. To create time for what's important and not yet urgent, make it a regular practice. Start by setting aside quiet time alone. It may need to be early in the morning before you start your workday, or over the weekend, or late in the evening when home is quiet. Eliminate distractions like the phone and the computer. Give yourself permission to be nowhere else, mentally, physically, or emotionally. Clear your mind by closing your eyes and ground yourself for three to four minutes. If you're distracted with your checklist or responding to other people's priorities, your quadrant two time will be ineffective. And in fact, will not be quadrant two time at all. Start thinking about your business in terms of impact. What's going to make an important difference in the future? And what kind of runway do you need to make that difference? Ask yourself what aspects of the business could benefit from being rethought or reconsidered? What needs to change in order to align talents and tasks in the company? What would it take to increase engagement and productivity simultaneously on your team? What would an out-of-the-box solution be to an important problem? These are just a sampling of the important yet not urgent questions. You'll certainly come up with more as you regularly make time for this important leadership discipline. Now I'm going to ask you to close your eyes if you're in a place where it's safe to do so. Soften your facial muscles and lengthen the back of your neck by tucking your chin just slightly. Sit up straight, dropping your shoulders down to create more comfort in your body. Uncross your legs so your feet are flat on the floor, and place your hands open on your lap with your palms facing up. Now silently begin to repeat the insight. I make time for what's important and not yet urgent. I make time for what's important and not yet urgent. Allow this insight to be gentle and easy, almost as if it's floating by on a cloud, just drifting by. Allow the insight to settle into your mind and your heart. When you hear a soft chime, stop repeating the insight and be still with your eyes closed. I make time for what's important and not yet urgent. I make time for what's important and not yet urgent. When you're ready, gently open your eyes. Today and every day, make time for what's important and not yet urgent. By doing so, you will actually reduce the quantity of tasks that are both important and urgent, sometimes experienced as crisis or chaos. Time spent in Stephen Covey's Quadrant 2 helps make you a more proactive, thoughtful, and anticipatory leader. And who wouldn't want that on their resume? And remember, before you go out, always go in. Thanks for joining me on this episode of On Your Way In. Remember, leadership isn't something you perform, it's something you embody. The more you go inward, the more effective, present, and resilient you become. If today's guided insight was helpful, take a moment to reflect, integrate, and lead using the innate wisdom within you. You can also download the full workbook in the show notes to deepen your practice. Until next time, remember before you go out, go in.