![\"Dwight](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2013\/10\/eisenhower.jpg\")
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Do you sometimes feel like you spend all your time managing crises? That your life is basically spent putting out one proverbial fire after another?<\/p>\n
At the end of the day do you feel completely sapped and drained of energy, and yet can\u2019t point to anything you accomplished of real significance?<\/p>\n
Yes?<\/p>\n
Then you, my friend<\/a>, are probably confusing the urgent with the important.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve talked before about the many leadership<\/a> lessons that can be gleaned from the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Today we\u2019re going to talk about another \u2013 a principle that guided him through his entire, hugely successful career as general and president:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Below we look into the distinction ol\u2019 Ike made between those two very different things, and explore how understanding the “Eisenhower Decision Principle” can help you become the man you want to be.<\/p>\n Urgent<\/b> means that a task requires immediate attention. These are the to-do\u2019s that shout \u201cNow!\u201d Urgent tasks put us in a reactive <\/i>mode, one marked by a defensive, negative, hurried, and narrowly-focused mindset.<\/p>\n Important<\/b> tasks are things that contribute to our long-term mission, values, and goals. Sometimes important tasks are also urgent, but typically they\u2019re not. When we focus on important activities we operate in a responsive<\/i> mode, which helps us remain calm, rational, and open to new opportunities.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a pretty intuitive distinction, yet most of us frequently fall into the trap of believing that all urgent activities are also important. This propensity likely has roots in our evolutionary history; our ancestors concentrated more on short-term concerns than long-term strategy, as tending to immediate stimuli (like a charging saber-toothed cat) could mean the difference between life and death.<\/p>\n Modern technologies (24-hour news, Twitter, Facebook, text messaging) that constantly bombard us with information have only heightened this deeply engrained mindset. Our stimulus-producing tech treats all information as equally urgent and pressing. Miley Cyrus\u2019 Twerk-gate is given the same weight as important D.C. policy discussions.<\/p>\n We are, as author Douglas Rushkoff claims<\/a>, experiencing \u201cpresent shock\u201d \u2013 a condition in which \u201cwe live in a continuous, always-on \u2018now\u2019\u201d and lose our sense of long-term narrative and direction. In such a state, it is easy to lose sight of the distinction between the truly important and the merely urgent.<\/p>\n The consequences of this priority-blindness are both personal and societal. In our own lives, we suffer from burnout<\/a> and stagnation, and on a broader level our culture is unable to solve the truly important problems of our time.<\/p>\n Business thinker Stephen Covey popularized the Eisenhower\u2019s Decision Principle in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People<\/a>. <\/i>In that book, Covey created a decision matrix to help individuals make the distinction between what\u2019s important and not important and what\u2019s urgent and not urgent. The matrix consists of a square divided into four boxes, or quadrants, labeled thusly: 1) Urgent\/Important, 2) Not Urgent\/Important, 3) Urgent\/Not Important, and 4) Not Urgent\/Not Important:<\/p>\n Below we go into detail about each quadrant and explain which one we should spend most of our time in if we wish to be our best and make the most of our lives.<\/p>\n Quadrant 1 tasks are both urgent and important. They\u2019re tasks that require our immediate attention and also work towards fulfilling our long-term goals and missions in life<\/a>.<\/p>\n Quadrant 1 tasks typically consist of crises, problems, or deadlines.<\/p>\n Here are a few specific examples of Urgent and Important tasks:<\/p>\n With a bit of planning and organization, many Q1 tasks can be made more efficient or even eliminated outright. For example, instead of waiting until the last minute to work on a term paper (thus turning it into an urgent task), you could schedule your time so that you\u2019re done with your paper a week in advance. Or instead of waiting for something in your house to fall apart and need fixing, you can follow a schedule of regular maintenance<\/a>.<\/p>\n While we\u2019ll never be able to completely eliminate urgent and important tasks, we can significantly reduce them with a bit of proactivity and by spending more time in Quadrant 2.<\/p>\n Which of course brings us to\u2026<\/p>\n Quadrant 2 tasks are the activities that don\u2019t have a pressing deadline, but nonetheless help you achieve your important personal, school, and work goals as well as help you fulfill your overall mission as a man.<\/p>\n Q2 tasks are typically centered around strengthening relationships, planning for the future, and improving yourself.<\/p>\n Here are some specific examples of Not Urgent but Important Tasks:<\/p>\n According to Covey, we should seek to spend most of our time on Q2 activities<\/strong>, as they\u2019re the ones that provide us lasting happiness, fulfillment, and success. Unfortunately, there are a couple key challenges that keep us from investing enough time and energy into Q2 tasks:<\/p>\n Because Q2 activities aren\u2019t pressing for our attention, we typically keep them forever on the backburner of our lives and tell ourselves, \u201cI\u2019ll get to those things \u2018someday\u2019 after I\u2019ve taken care of this urgent stuff.\u201d We even put off figuring out what\u2019s most important in life<\/a>, which of course only perpetuates a cycle where all we ever take care of are the most urgent to-dos on our list.<\/p>\n But \u201csomeday\u201d will never come; if you\u2019re waiting to do the important stuff until your schedule clears up a little, trust me when I say that it won\u2019t. You\u2019ll always feel about as busy as you are now, and if anything, life just gets busier as you get older (at least until you retire).<\/p>\n To overcome our inherent present-bias that prevents us from focusing on Quadrant 2 activities, we must live our lives intentionally and proactively<\/i>. You can\u2019t run your life in default mode. You have to consciously decide, \u201cI\u2019m going to make time for these things come hell or high water.\u201d Quadrant 3 tasks are activities that require our attention now (urgent), but don\u2019t help us achieve our goals or fulfill our mission (not important). Most Q3 tasks are interruptions from other people and often involve helping them meet their own goals and fulfill their own priorities.<\/p>\n Here are some specific examples of Quadrant 3 activities:<\/p>\n According to Covey, many people<\/a> spend most of their time on Q3 tasks, all the while thinking they\u2019re working in Q1. Because Q3 tasks do help others out, they definitely feel<\/i> important. Plus they\u2019re also usually tangible tasks, the completion of which gives you that sense of satisfaction that comes from checking something off your list.<\/p>\n But while Q3 tasks may be important to others, they\u2019re not important to you<\/i>. They\u2019re not necessarily bad, but they need to be balanced with your Q2 activities. Otherwise, you\u2019ll end up feeling<\/i> like you\u2019re getting a lot done from day-to-day, while eventually realizing that you\u2019re not actually making any progress in your own long-term goals. That\u2019s a recipe for personal frustration and resentment towards other people.<\/p>\n Men who spend most of their time working on Urgent but Not Important Tasks often suffer from “Nice Guy Syndrome,” and want to constantly please others at the expense of their own happiness.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s you, the solution is simple: Become more assertive<\/a> and start to firmly (but politely) say no to most requests<\/a>.<\/p>\n Quadrant 4 activities aren\u2019t urgent and aren\u2019t important. They\u2019re what I like to call \u201cdicking around\u201d activities. Q4 activities aren\u2019t pressing nor do they help you achieve long-term goals or fulfill your mission as a man. They\u2019re primarily distractions.<\/p>\n Specific examples of Not Urgent and Not Important Tasks include:<\/p>\n I think if most of us did a time audit on ourselves, we\u2019d find that we spend an inordinate amount of time on Q4 activities. I\u2019m sure most of us have those \u201cI\u2019m wasting my life\u201d moments after we\u2019ve spent hours surfing the web and realize we could have used that time to pursue our more ennobling life goals. No? That\u2019s just me? Dang.<\/p>\n As a pragmatist, I don\u2019t think you need to eliminate Q4 activities altogether from your life. After a particularly hectic and busy day, randomly browsing the internet or watching a favorite TV show for a half hour is exactly what my brain needs to decompress.<\/p>\n Instead of aiming to completely rid yourself of Not Urgent and Not Important tasks, try to only spend a very limited amount of time on them. 5% or less of your waking hours is a good goal.<\/p>\n In our present shock world, the ability to filter the signal from the noise, or distinguish between what\u2019s urgent and what\u2019s truly important, is an essential skill to have.<\/p>\n My challenge to you this week is to apply the Eisenhower Decision Matrix to as many aspects of your life as you can. When faced with a decision, stop and ask yourself, \u201cAm I doing this because it\u2019s important or am I doing it because it\u2019s merely urgent?\u201d<\/p>\n I promise as you spend most of your time working on Not Urgent but Important tasks, you\u2019ll feel a renewed sense of calm, control, and composure in your life. You\u2019ll feel like you\u2019re making real progress. By investing your time in Q2\u2019s planning\/organizing activities, you can prevent and eliminate many of the crises and problems of Q1, balance the requests of Q3 with your own needs, and truly enjoy the veg-outs of Q4, knowing that you\u2019ve earned the rest. By making Q2 tasks your top priority, no matter the emergency, annoyance, or deadline you\u2019re hit with, you\u2019ll have the mental, emotional, and physical wherewithal to respond positively, rather than react defensively.<\/p>\n To help you apply the Eisenhower Decision Matrix, we suggest checking out the following tools.<\/p>\n Eisenhower App<\/a>. <\/b>This is an iPhone app that allows you to easily organize your task according to the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. I had a chance to play around with it a bit and liked what I saw. Haven\u2019t been able to find anything similar for Android.<\/p>\n Download the Eisenhower Decision Matrix Worksheet.<\/b><\/a> I created a snazzy little PDF of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix available to download for free. Print one out tonight and set aside 30 minutes for personal reflection. Make a list of the tasks you spend most of your time on and assign them to an appropriate quadrant in the matrix. Doing so will give you a rough idea of whether you\u2019re spending time on activities that are actually important.<\/p>\n After you do that, think of ways you can reduce the amount of time you spend on Q1, Q3, and Q4 tasks and increase the amount of time you spend on Q2 activities.<\/p>\n Be sure to listen to our podcast about how Ike became a great leader<\/a>:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nThe Difference Between Urgent and Important<\/b><\/h3>\n
The Eisenhower Decision Matrix<\/span> <\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"Eisenhower](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2013\/10\/EisenhowerDecisionMatrix11.jpg\")
<\/p>\nQuadrant 1: Urgent and Important Tasks<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Quadrant 2: Not Urgent but Important Tasks<\/b><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/a><\/p>\nQuadrant 3: Urgent and Not Important Tasks<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Quadrant 4: Not Urgent and Not Important Tasks<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Be Like Ike; Spend More Time on Important Tasks<\/b><\/h3>\n
Tools to Help You<\/b><\/h3>\n