We seem to live in a very busy world. There is so much to do yet so little time in which to do it. You’re either busy or you’re slacking. Realistically, there are only 24 hours in a day. However, we appear determined to do as much as possible with barely a moment to spare. And, when it comes to change, you’re just too occupied keeping up with what you already have to be able to think of doing anything differently. Yet, I wonder, have well are you actually using your time? Are you managing your time effectively, or are you always out of time?
Stephen Covey, in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, introduced the time management matrix. He describes tasks as either important or not important, urgent or not urgent. Basically, if it’s not important, why spend time on it. Equally, if it’s urgent, how did it get to be that? Could you have planned a little better?
Of course, life is not usually that arbitrary. However, Covey maintains that you should spend most of your time working on anything and everything that is important and not urgent. If you plan your time effectively, you are doing everything that matters in good time. For example, getting your car serviced annually would be important and not urgent. Leave the task undone and one day you’ll break down, making the task suddenly urgent and important.
Obviously, there will always be tasks that are urgent and important; a fire, an accident, your boss demanding something by 5pm today. Those priorities may be yours and they may not. With your boss, there are times when you just have to get on and do it. It may not be important or urgent to you, but to your boss it is.
The real concern is how much of your time you’re spending on things which are not important. Some you may see as urgent and some you may not. How much time have you spent doomscrolling today? How long were you down the YouTube rabbit hole?
And it’s not just the obvious habits of spending too much time on social media or binge watching the latest box set. Realistically, it’s when it’s suddenly important to clean the bathroom, sort out the laundry or check your email. There’s a task waiting there, definitely important, possibly urgent, possibly not. And you don’t really want to do it. So, suddenly, other things are important. And urgent. Except they’re not really. And you know it.
Take a moment. Consider everything you did yesterday. How much of what you did was genuinely important. How much of that was urgent? Had you planned your time better, how much of what was urgent could have done before it became urgent?
Similarly, how much of your time did you waste on things that were neither urgent or important? How did you feel at the time, and how do you feel now?
Finally, Covey is clear about the importance of making time for renewal. Time to recharge. Me time. Critically, if all of your time is taken up with doing and being busy, you eventually start to slip and make mistakes. Self-care is, therefore, important and not urgent if you plan for it regularly.
If you’re on top of it and managing your time effectively, carry on doing what you’re doing. Similarly, if you’re mostly getting it right, make a few changes and enjoy. If, however, you’re not sure, book a free initial consultation here, and then take the next step. You know that you can do it, and you know that it makes sense, don’t you?