"The main thing is to keep main thing main thing." - -Stephen Covey

So often I hear people say, "I can't afford to take time out of my busy schedule to plan!" To that I respond by saying, "If you are that tight on time, then you can't afford NOT to take time out to plan." I'll illustrate my point with a real-life example.

Over past year I have worked with two very bright and capable women who have a lot in common. I'll call them Carol and Marilyn (not their real names). Both are professionals working in similar fields. Both supervise a large team of employees. Both are married to spouses who also work outside home. Both are mothers of school-age kids. Both are about same age. Both struggle with managing volume of paper and electronic information they receive daily. Looking at these women from outside, they appear to have a lot in common.

And they are very different. Carol and Marilyn independently hired me to help them get organized. Before teaching them a process I use to manage paper and de-clutter their offices (visit http://www.orgcoach.net rimthefat.html), I spent some time talking with them about their priorities. Why? Because organizing one's physical environment without first clarifying priorities is like rearranging deck chairs on The Titanic!

Although I am devoting majority of this article to a discussion about time management, I want to first point out difference between management and leadership. Management works within system. Leadership works on system. Stephen Covey reminds us that "fundamental to putting first things first in our lives is leadership before management." It becomes critical to ask yourself, "Am I doing right things?" before "Am I doing things right?"

Once you are clear about your priorities (doing right things), planning and organizing around those priorities is essential. This is because we are a society that is urgency addicted. We tend to focus on that which is urgent -- whether activity is important or not. Stephen Covey sums up problem very well: "It's important to realize that urgency itself is not problem. The problem is that when urgency is dominant factor in our lives, importance isn't. What we regard as "first things" are urgent things. We're so caught up in doing, we don't even stop to ask if what we're doing really needs to be done."

If you struggle with a strong urgency mindset, read on. I guarantee that you will feel more satisfied and fulfilled when you take steps to focus your time and energy on what's most important and avoid those activities that are less important or not important to you.

TIME MANAGEMENT MATRIX

"What does it matter how much we do if what we're doing isn't what matters most?" =-Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

In his book First Things First, Stephen Covey offers a wonderful tool for analyzing how you spend your time -- Time Management Matrix. Covey has broken time into four quadrants:

Quadrant I: Quadrant of Necessity

This quadrant represents activities that are necessary for you to focus on, because they are urgent (time-sensitive) AND important to you. These are some of kinds of activities that fall into Q-I: * Pressing problems / crisis * Deadline-driven projects * Last-minute preparations for scheduled activities

We tend to focus on Q-I activities because they are urgent and need to do these activities makes itself known to us. These activities are hard to ignore because our life experiences have taught us that when we ignore Q-I activities, we get into trouble.

Quadrant II: Quadrant of Quality & Personal Leadership

This quadrant represents activities that are important, but because they are not urgent, they are easy to put on back burner for "when I have more time." In order to focus on these activities, one must be proactive. Here are examples of activities that fall into Q-II: * Preparation/planning * Prevention * Values clarification * Exercise * Relationship-building * True recreation/relaxation

The more time we spend in Q-II, more quality we add to our lives. If we neglect Q-II activities long enough, sometimes they become Q-I activities (urgent and important). For example, exercise is generally considered a Q-II activity because there is no deadline by which you must exercise. However, if you neglect exercise long enough -- "I'll do it when I have more time" - it may become a Q-I (urgent) activity when your health care provider tells you that you will face major health problems if you don't start exercising regularly.

Unfortunately, "more time" never comes. We all get 168 hours a week. Check out my 168 Hour Exercise at http://www.orgcoach.net/pdf/168hour.pdf for a good time analysis tool.

Effectively translating these high-leverage Quadrant II goals into action requires a framework for effective decision-making about how you spend your time. Most people struggle to find time for important but not urgent activities in their already-overflowing schedules. Covey reminds us that "the key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."

Quadrant III: Quadrant of Deception

This quadrant represents activities that are not important and urgent (time-sensitive). Q-III is known as Quadrant of Deception, because we get deceived into believing that these activities are important because they are urgent, even though we've identified these activities as not important.

The word "urgent" means that activity is time-sensitive or deadline-driven. For example, an incoming phone call is considered urgent because phone is ringing right now. It may or may not be important, but if you don't answer phone now, it will stop ringing. Here are examples of activities that fall into Q-III: * Unimportant interruptions & phone calls * Unimportant mail & reports * Some meetings * Many "pressing" matters * Many popular activities

Whoever thought you'd be able to get organized in just 10 minutes?! Here are a few simple ideas.

1. 10 MINUTE CHORE BOX: Rather than spending hours organizing, and doing it all yourself, create a 10 minute Chore Box for yourself--and one for each family member, if applicable.

Each person's box would contain specific chores or tasks that need to be completed. The chores are written on slips of paper, and take a maximum of 10 minutes each to accomplish.

You can gear tasks towards person's abilities (e.g. while older kids can help out with vacuuming, a 3 year old may instead be responsible for putting away his/her toys.)

Each day, as a chore is completed, that slip of paper is placed in a holding envelope until Chore Box is empty. Then, when empty, boxes are refilled, and system starts over again. This also works well at office!

2. 10 MINUTE PICK-UP: Control chaos. Schedule a consistent, '10 minute Pick-up' each night. Set a timer to sound an alarm in 10 minutes.

While clock is ticking, all family members are responsible for clearing out and putting away their belongings from main family area.

When timer sounds, you're all done. Give yourselves a warm round of applause for all you've accomplished.