Time goes by so slowly for those who wait, no time to hesitate. In the famed words of Madonna's 2005 hit "Hung Up", a gay anthem, there's no time to hesitate and get on top of your time management skills!
I know most of you have the time management skills of a potato, but fear not! I have discovered something that will change your life forever✨
I was surfing on the web on company time, you know, as one does when bored with one's tasks... Whose time I was on doesn't matter for the purpose of this anecdote, but it will kind of make a point later on in this article.
But I digress, where was I? Ah! Yes! Surfing the web. I was surfing the web and I came across a piece of information I was deprived of until today: the secret to efficient time management.
We all know Gantt charts are a way of keeping track of time invested on projects, but have you all heard of the Covey Matrix? I think not!
What is the Covey Matrix?
The Covey Time Management Matrix was designed by Steven Covey, for his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This time management model works to prioritize your time and tasks for optimized efficiency and productivity.
The Covey Matrix is designed around two axes: the x axis represents the urgency of matters and the y axis represents the importance these have. To have a greater understanding of this chart, Covey defines urgency and importance as follows:
Urgent: Tasks and responsibilities that require immediate action and attention.
Important: Tasks that possess a high significance or value to goals.
Therefore, a matter may be urgent but not important, viceversa, or both.
How does the Covey Matrix work?
As previously stated, the Covey Matrix is designed around two axes, with the horizontal one representing urgency and the vertical one representing importance. This gives way to four quadrants:
1. Urgent and important
This is the top left quadrant of the Covey model. Here, one must allocate tasks and responsibilities related to critical results that require urgent attention. The tasks listed in this quadrant are usually those that cause stress to people, because they must be tended to at once and usually have grave consequences if not attended to in timely and correct fashion.
This first quadrant helps you visualize the impending deadlines, tasks relating to time-sensitive goals that involve alleviating immediate risks. Visualizing these tasks and allocating them accordingly can ensure you devote the necessary time and effort on them.
2. Not urgent but important
This is the top right quadrant of the chart. In this section, list all the activities that involve a deep sense of discipline and commitment. The activities listed here are those that require planning or additional steps and are directly related to overall goals.
3. Urgent but not important
In this quadrant, which is the bottom left one, the activities one allocates here are urgent and in the moment they assume some form of importance. These items are most likely things that can be reduced or removed from your workflow, as they possess the following traits:
They come as a result of poor planning of items listed in quadrants 1 and 2
They interrupt productivity
They distract you from other tasks
4. Neither urgent nor important
The final quadrant, which is in the bottom right of the matrix, consists of tasks that are more likely able to be removed completely or reduced to a minimum. These are the lowest priority tasks that you include in a to-do list, as they cause the least amount of stress and are not directly related to overall or time-sensitive goals.
Reading about the Covey Matrix on firm time? I would say this would be neither urgent nor important, but it did make for a good blog post!😂
Why use the Covey Time Management Matrix?
Well... Now that we know how it works, it's time to sell you the idea😂
I've been quite convinced by this model, and I read the benefits of implementing it in one's life. Thanks to Indeed, we found the Covey Matrix has the following benefits, which include but are not limited to:
Increased productivity: This method helps you decide what to prioritize in your life and how to organize your time.
Clear habits: This matrix will help you identify in which quadrants you spend most of your time, assessing your own behavior in order to develop new habits.
Work-life balance: By having more productive habits at work, you will have more time for important things outside of your job.
Improved planning skills: Prioritizing tasks appropriately can help you determine short-term goals that may be completed within certain timeframes, bettering your project planning skills and long-term goals.
Tips for using the Covey Matrix
Also, thanks to Indeed, I found the following tips to make the most out of your Covey Matrix:
List the specific tasks you need to complete. Write down the tasks you have yet to complete, as brief and clear statements.
Include deadlines. After clearly listing your tasks, include the deadline. Keeping these dates in mind will help you allocate them in the correct quadrant.
Identify the most urgent tasks. The most urgent tasks are usually those with the closest deadlines. This will help you determine which tasks must be completed first.
Organize by importance. Now that you know how urgent each task is, order the tasks according to their importance, to help you realize which ones are tentative and which ones can be put on the back burner for now. It will also help you create a schedule to get the most urgent tasks completed according to their importance.
Place tasks in the correct quadrant. Again, now that you know... how urgent and important each task is in your agenda, organize them into groups in the chart.
Assess your productivity. Indeed recommends us to repeat the process for daily and weekly activities. Once you've been at this for a few weeks, you can turn back and reflect on your performance. This assessment will help you adjust your schedule to accommodate your needs or assess the allocation given to certain tasks.
Well, there you have it. I've walked you through my most recent discovery, which I believe is life-changing. I am looking forward to implementing this in my day to day, and I hope that you, dear reader, will also employ this in your life. We must all strive to optimize our time, so that we may have time to stop and smell the roses🌹
If you guys have any questions or more time management tips, let me know in the comments or DM me on Insta :)
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