A Little More on Habit 3

I was reading through FranklinCovey’s High School Agenda yesterday and found an interesting way to view the Four Quadrants I wrote about earlier this week.

Habit 3 is all about learning to prioritize and manage your time so that your “first things” come first, and not last. In other words, what is most important gets done. Habit 3 is the power of will-power (the strength to say yes to your most important things) and won’t power (the strength to ssay no to less important things - and to peer pressure.)

According to the quadrant chart in the high school agenda:

Q4 is the home of The Slacker.

The slacker watches too much TV, takes part in endless phone calls, plays computer games to excess, engages in mall marathons. Q4 is the home of time wasters.

Q3 is the home of The Yes-Man.

The yes-man takes time for every phone call right now, lets others interrupt him constantly without regard for what he might have been doing, takes on others small problems instead of getting his stuff done, and gives into peer pressure instead of doing what is important to him.

Q1 is the home of The Procrastinator.

The procrastinator doesn’t study for his exam until the last minute and now it is urgent. The procrastinator is late for work because he left so many things to the last minute. The procrastinator has a project due today that is nowhere near completion so he must drop everything to get it done. The procrastinator’s car breaks down because he didn’t provide regular preventative mainenance.

Q2 is the home of The Prioritizer.

The prioritizer takes time each week to plan and set goals, she prepares now for the essay that is due next week, she exercises to keep healthy, she invests in relationships now, not when they are in trouble, and she enjoys relaxation because she plans ahead.

How does one spend more time in Q4 and less in the other three? Plan, plan, plan and learn to say no.

A lot of Quadrant 1’s can be eliminated if you plan ahead. Your car won’t break down (most of the time) if you take the time to provide regular maintenance. You won’t have to drop everything for a project due today if you have a plan to work on it throughout the week. Plan and schedule the most important things you need to get done in the week, check your plan and then do it.

Most of quadrant 3 activities can be eliminated by learning to say yes to your priorities and no to others’ priorities. Does this mean we never help out others? No, of couse not, but we can do it on our time schedule, we can find out how important it really is to the other person, we can do it when it is convenient for us.

Quadrant 4 activities should be eliminated entirely. What? Am I never allowed to have fun again? Never allowed to surf the web, go to the mall, watch TV? Yes, you can do all of these things. Remember Q4 is the quadrant of excess. Q4 is going to the mall when you have a project due that you should be working on. Q4 is watching program after program on TV when you really just wanted to watch your favorite show. Q4 is wasitng time when you have other things that you said were important waiting for you. Q4 does not include rest, relaxation, time with a good book, going to the movies with your spouse, watching your favorite TV programs, going on vacation. These are all Quadrant 2 activities.

The goal is to try to “live above the line” meaning in Q1 and Q2 and to spend most of your time in Q2.


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