Tip 668: Sorting the Tasks

From the Time Management Workshops: Sorting the Tasks

Last week we talked about the relationship between comfort and control: The more we can control the events in our lives, the more comfortable we are with our lives. 

Our friend Greg Gierhart noted how many times that other people are involved with the events in our lives, and we don’t—can’t, shouldn’t—try to control them. 

Excellent point. Unless we’re hermits, we engage with other people every day. They come to us with “I need your help!” or “Could you answer this?” 

The key is not in controlling these other people, but in understanding the situations and options in working with these other people.

With this tip, we’ll talk about the situations. Next week, we’ll talk about the options. 

Let’s talk about “The Important/Urgent Matrix” or “The Eisenhower Matrix” or “The Connor Matrix.”* 

Consider the events in your life in four categories: 

  1. The important and urgent (high-value and time-critical).

  2. The important but not urgent (high-value but not time-critical).

  3. The not important but urgent (not high-value but time-critical).

  4. The not important and not urgent (neither high-value nor time-critical).

Then respond to the events:

  1. Do the important and urgent immediately: (“Jake, Amie just called. Your daughter just fell out of the treehouse." “Sorry, boss. I need to leave the meeting. Lucy just fell out of her treehouse.” “Hey! Go! We’ll catch up later.")

  2. Schedule time for the important but not urgent: (“Sunday at 2:00 p.m.: Call Aunt Bea. See how she’s doing.” “Monday at 6:00 a.m.: Run two miles.”)

  3. Ignore what’s not important but urgent: (Your cell phone rings but caller ID says, “Scam Likely.” You press the “Off” button.)

  4. Discard what’s not important and not urgent: (Judge Judy Scheindlin has a new show, “Judy Justice.” So?)

You decide what’s important and what’s urgent. We’ll talk about how you engage with others next week. 

We love this stuff. 

* General Fox Connor (1871-1951) mentored Captain Dwight Eisenhower while they served in Panama. Connor originated the matrix. Eisenhower used it and taught it. Stephen Covey popularized it.  

 

Kurt Weiland