1: “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important,” said former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
This quotation provides insight into one of the most accomplished individuals of the 20th century.
He “was a highly effective leader and executive. He became known for his prolific, almost superhuman productivity,” Sahil Bloom writes in his book The 5 Types of Wealth.
Here are some of his notable achievements:
- West Point graduate
- Five-star general in the U.S. Army
- Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War II
- Orchestrated the famed invasion of Normandy on D-Day
- President of Columbia University
- First supreme commander of NATO
- Thirty-fourth president of the United States
2: This week, we are exploring how to use different tools and strategies to create time wealth.
Author Stephen Covey built on Dwight’s insight regarding the difference between the urgent and the important by creating a productivity tool called “The Eisenhower Matrix,” which “is designed to harness our attention on a micro, daily level,” Sahil notes.
We categorize our tasks, opportunities, and challenges according to whether each is “urgent,” i.e., does it require immediate attention, and whether it is “important,” does it advance our long-term values or goals?
We then categorize each of our tasks into one of four quadrants to create a two-by-two matrix:
- Important and urgent: “These are tasks that require immediate, focused attention but also contribute to our long-term mission or goals,” Sahil writes. “These are Do now! tasks.”
- Important but not urgent: “These tasks are your compounders—they build long-term value in our life. These are the projects and opportunities that we want to dedicate focused attention toward.” Another benefit of spending time working in this quadrant is that, over time, we will reduce the number of Important and Urgent tasks through better planning and preparation.
- Not important but urgent: “These tasks are the Beware category—they can drain time and energy without contributing to our long-term goals or vision,” Sahil explains. We want to delegate or reduce these actions.
- Not important and not urgent: “These are the time-wasting tasks and activities that drain our energy and sap our productivity,” he notes. Our goal here is to delete these tasks from our to-do list.
The best leaders maximize their time in the “Important but not urgent” quadrant. However, because we are already busy, it’s likely not as easy as deciding to do so. Instead, we must create more time by eliminating or delegating not important but urgent and not urgent tasks.
This is the power of taking control over our time: In time, we have the freedom to choose exactly how to spend it.
Categorizing our tasks according to the Eisenhower Matrix increases our awareness of how we are spending our time.
Sahil writes: “I have never found a single productivity tool that is more useful than the Eisenhower Matrix when it comes to creating time awareness and directing my attention. I find myself turning to it regularly, especially when I have a lot on my plate and need to reset my focus.”
3: Another powerful strategy to increase our time wealth is to focus on “The Art of No.”
In her book Happier Hour, UCLA professor Cassie Holmes outlines a phenomenon psychologists call the “Yes-Damn Effect.”
“The idea, first proposed by Gal Zauberman of the University of North Carolina and John Lynch of Duke,” Sahil writes, “is that humans systematically overestimate the amount of free time they will have in the future, so they say yes to future things, assuming they will have time for them, but when that future date arrives, they find they’re wrong.”
We say “Yes” now, but when the future date arrives, we say “Damn!” As in, “Damn, why did I agree to this?”
Sahil suggests two specific strategies to combat this tendency. For personal commitments, we use the “Right Now” test before committing to something later. We ask ourselves: Do I want to do this right now? Am I excited to do it today or tomorrow?
“By pulling the event into the present,we make a more clear, rational decision,” Sahil observes.
For professional commitments, we refer back to the Two Lists exercise, one with our top 3-5 professional priorities and a second “Avoid at all costs” list with all of our goals or interests.
If the opportunity fits our 3-5 top professional priorities, we do it. If it doesn’t, we say no and move on.
The underlying objective is to maximize the time we spend doing what writer Derek Sivers calls “Hell, yeah!” actions.
If something isn’t a “Hell yeah!” then it’s a no,” Sahil notes.
Another question we can ask is: What if it took twice as long and was half as rewarding? Would I still want to do it?
“Humans tend to be overly optimistic when taking on something new,” Sahil observes. “Force a degree of rationality into the decision by lowering our expectations.”
More tomorrow!
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Reflection: Am I spending my best energy on what’s truly important, or am I letting urgent but less meaningful tasks and commitments crowd out my highest priorities?
Action: Apply the Eisenhower Matrix to my to-do list this week, then practice saying “no” to at least one non-essential request using the “Right Now” test or my professional priorities list.
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