In his book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen R Covey talks about four quadrants in the time management matrix – those activities that are: 1. urgent and important, 2. not urgent but important, 3. urgent but not important and, 4. not urgent and not important.
He says people who constantly operate in a state of crisis management spend most of their time in Quadrant 1 – constantly attending to crises and pressing problems. Quadrant 2, however, is where you need to aim to spend most of your time.
Covey says: “Quadrant 2 is the heart of effective personal management. It deals with things that are not urgent, but are important. It deals with things like building relationships, writing a personal mission statement, long-
range planning, exercising, preventative maintenance, preparation – all those things we know we need to do, but somehow seldom get around to doing, because they aren’t urgent.”
If you’re working in this quadrant of time management you have more time to work on your business. And by spending more time operating on the important but not urgent matters, you will, in time, reduce the problems and the time you spend in Quadrant 1.
The critical point here is that by spending more time on the planning you will begin to reduce the crisis points in your business.
To run a successful small business you need to aim for a smooth, considered approach on a daily basis. Obviously it won’t always be possible but, in most cases, success in business comes down to effective planning. And effective planning is only possible through effective time management, allowing you to work mostly in Quadrant 2, on the important but not urgent matters of your business and reducing the crises and problems of Quadrant 1.
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