This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "First Things First" by Stephen R. Covey. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What are the four quadrants of time management? What quadrant is the most important?
There are four time management quadrants. Quadrant I is both urgent and important. Quadrant II is important, but not urgent. Quadrant III is urgent, but not important. And Quadrant IV is neither urgent nor important. According to Stephen Covey, you should focus most of your time in Quadrant II—where you do activities that are important, but not urgent.
Keep reading to learn about Stephen Covey’s time management quadrants, and why you should shift your focus to Quadrant II.
The 4 Time Management Quadrants
There are two factors that determine how you spend your time: importance and urgency. A task can be either important, urgent, both, or neither.
The “first things” method of time management emphasizes important tasks, rather than those that are merely urgent. All our daily, weekly, and monthly activities fall into one of the four time management quadrants, as seen below:
| Urgent | Not Urgent | |
| Important | Quadrant I Urgent and Important | Quadrant II Not Urgent, but Important |
| Not Important | Quadrant III Urgent, but Not Important | Quadrant IV Neither Urgent nor Important |
Quadrant I is both urgent and important. This quadrant contains emergencies and problems that require your immediate attention. This can include health emergencies, a work deadline, or a broken-down car.
Quadrant II is important, but not urgent. This is where you do prevention, maintenance, long-term planning, relationship building, and personal leadership activities like evaluating your thought patterns and assessing progress toward goals. For the highest quality of life, Quadrant II is where you should spend most of your time.
Quadrant III is urgent, but not important. The urgency of Quadrant III activities can make them appear important, but they don’t actually align with your values or contribute to the achievement of your goals. Quadrant-III activities include making phone calls, going to meetings that lack purpose, and receiving unexpected guests.
Quadrant IV is neither urgent nor important. These activities add no value to your life; even recreational activities don’t belong here because true recreation is a restorative and valuable Quadrant-II activity. Quadrant IV includes gossiping, mindlessly watching television, or passively scrolling through social media.
Quadrant-III and Quadrant-IV activities add little value to your life. You should limit time spent in these quadrants. Although Quadrant-I activities are inevitable, you should aim to spend most of your time in Quadrant II.
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Stephen R. Covey's "First Things First" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full First Things First summary :
- How to work effectively, not just efficiently
- Why you need to think more about what you're spending time on than how much time you're spending
- The 6 steps to effectively schedule and prioritize important activities
