271: How to Focus on the Right Things at Work

The Exclusive Career Coach

This week, I want to talk about how to focus on the right things at work, using Stephen Covey’s Four Quadrants.

At its essence, the Four Quadrants is about time management. If you’re anything like me, you’ve had it up to your eyeballs with articles, speakers, and social media posts about how to manage your time better.

So, let’s not go there.

Instead, let’s think about the Four Quadrants as a tool to manage our ACTIVITIES better – so we are focusing on the right things to get the results we are held accountable for achieving.

My challenge for you in this area is this: After listening to this episode, decide to make a small – but significant shift – in one of the quadrants. A shift that will yield substantial results in terms of your productivity.

The Four Quadrants

For the uninitiated – or as a refresher - here are the four quadrants:

Quadrant I – Urgent & Important

Quadrant II – Not Urgent but Important

Quadrant III – Urgent but Not Important

Quadrant IV – Not Urgent & Not Important

Let’s get specific.

Quadrant I is the Quadrant of Necessity – things you need to do immediately. While these things are Urgent & Important, living in this quadrant tends to lead to burnout and takes time away from doing things that are Important but not Urgent.

Examples:

Resolving crises/Putting out fires

Pressing problems

Projects with deadlines

Quadrant II is the Quadrant of Quality – this is where you do important things that lead to real success and long-term viability for your company and yourself. The best way to ensure you are spending an appropriate amount of time in Quadrant II is to calendar these activities in and keep track of what you are doing.

Examples:

Relationship-building/Networking

Planning/Preparation

Prevention

Empowerment

Quadrant III is the Quadrant of Deception – the key here is to recognize that these tasks don’t need to be done right away and may even be delegated. These tasks may seem important in the moment because of their urgency, but they aren’t. The challenge is not allowing someone else’s urgency to become yours – especially if it is due to the other person’s procrastination.

Examples:

Interruptions

Some phone calls

Some mail

Some reports

Some meetings

Quadrant IV is the Quadrant of Waste – activities that aren’t urgent or important. You want to minimize the time you spend in Quadrant IV at all costs.

Examples:

Busy work

Some phone calls

Some mail

Time wasters

So, how do you figure out where the shift needs to take place? Step one is to take an honest look at how you are currently spending your time at work. Some of you may do very similar things each day, so evaluating how you spend your time could be as simple as tracking your activities for one day.

Others of you may have a wide variety of tasks based on the day of the week, time of the month, quarter of the year, or other variables – so you’ll need to evaluate how you spend your time over a longer period of time.

I thought I would use myself as an example – and yes, I’ll let you know the shift I will be making as a result of this exercise.

Quadrant 1 – Urgent & Important

Writing my client’s resumes, cover letters, and LI profiles – 10 hours/week

Coaching calls with clients/Consults with prospective clients – 12 hours/week

Writing and producing this podcast each week – 2 hours/week

Responding to emails from clients, prospective clients, etc – 2 hours/week

In-processing new clients – 1 hour/week

Sunday preparation for the coming week – 1 hour/week

Meeting with my VA and my coach – 1 hour/week

TOTAL: 19 hours/week

Quadrant II – Not Urgent but Important

Attending SHRM meetings - 2 hours/month

Attending Ellevate meetings – 2 hours/week

Other professional development – 2 hours/month

Networking via LI, Fairygodboss – 2 hours/month

Budget management – 1 hour/week

Planning for business growth & expansion including new programs – 4 hours/week

TOTAL: about 7 hours/week

Quadrant III – Urgent but Not Important

I can’t think of anything I do that falls in this category

Quadrant IV – Not Urgent & Not Important

Going down a rabbit hole with unimportant emails – not much time, but should avoid this altogether – 2 hours/week

Here’s what I learned from this exercise: I spend the vast majority of my time in Quadrant I, which can lead to burnout.

I get tremendous satisfaction from planning for the growth of my company, as well as networking – yet I let the Quadrant I activities overtake Quadrant II activities.

I am committing to carving out an additional two hours/week to engage in planning, program development, and business growth.

My question to you is this: What one change will you make that has the potential for a tremendous ROI in your productivity – job satisfaction – results? Let me know!

Are you in the wrong job that chips away at you every day? The CareerSpring document and coaching program will help you find a job that uses your zone of genius, recognizes your value, and pays you what you’re worth.

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