IN the process of the application of Habit 3 Put First Things First we looked at the Time Matrix and the four Quadrants. If you look back the first two quadrants are Important Quadrants. And the Most important out of these two as we had a very closer look at the RESULTS last week is "Quadrant Two". The Quality of time we spend there would determine our effectiveness overall.
 The only place to get time for Quadrant II in the beginning is from Quadrants III and IV, which not important quadrants. You can't ignore the urgent and important activities of Quadrant I, although it will shrink in size as you spend more time with prevention and preparation in Quadrant II. But the initial time for Quadrant II has to come out of III and IV.
You have to be proactive to work on Quadrant II because Quadrants I and III work on you. To say ''yes'' to important Quadrant II priorities, you have to learn to say ''no'' to other activities, sometimes apparently urgent things.
Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe that is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds. They haven't really internalized Habit 2. [refer more of the Habit 2 in the previous articles].
There are many people who recognize the value of Quadrant II activities in their lives, whether they identify them as such or not. And they attempt to give priority to those activities and integrate them into their lives through self-discipline alone. But without a principle center and a personal mission statement, they don't have the necessary foundation to sustain their efforts. They're working on the leaves, on the attitudes and the behaviors of discipline, without even thinking to examine the roots, the basic paradigms from which their natural attitudes and behaviors flow.
A Quadrant II focus is a paradigm that grows out of a principle center. If you are centered on your spouse, your money, your friends, your pleasure, or any extrinsic factor, you will keep getting thrown back into Quadrants I and III, reacting to the outside forces your life is centered on. Even if you're centered on yourself, you'll end up in I and III reacting to the impulse of the moment. Your independent will alone cannot effectively discipline you against your center.
In the words of the architectural maxim, form follows function. Likewise, management follows leadership. The way you spend your time is a result of the way you see your time and the way you really see your priorities. If your priorities grow out of a principle center and a personal mission, if they are deeply planted in your heart and in your mind, you will see Quadrant II as a natural, exciting place to invest your time.
It's almost impossible to say ''no'' to the popularity of Quadrant III or to the pleasure of escape to Quadrant IV if you don't have a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside.
Only when you have the self-awareness to examine your programme - and the imagination and conscience to create a new, unique, principle-centered programme to which you can ‘yes’ - only then will you have sufficient independent will power to say "no", with a genuine smile, to the unimportant.
IN the next week we will look at how we can the benefit of moving in to the Most needed Quadrant Two. |
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