But what is Quadrant 2? How do you use it? And how can you use Quadrant 2 to boost productivity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quadrant 2 is the area of Stephen Covey\u2019s time management matrix<\/a> that includes tasks that are important, but not urgent. As Covey explains in The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Quadrant 2 is the most important quadrant and to be productive, you need to spend most of your time in Quadrant 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working toward Quadrant 2 is an ongoing process that will be a consistent part of the 7 habits. Learn how to identify Quadrant 2 tasks to be more productive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Covey’s Quadrant 2 is not urgent, but important. This is where effective people focus their time and energy<\/strong>, and the discipline to prioritize these tasks is key to self-management and achieving your personal mission<\/a>. Quadrant 2 includes activities that could easily be put off for their lack of apparent urgency, but which will greatly benefit your life in the long term if you invest the time in them; they include developing relationships, defining your personal mission statement<\/a>, exercising, and performing preventive maintenance (e.g. oil changes for your car, health check-ups, flossing, or home maintenance). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Effective people are proactive and understand the value of investing their time and energy into Quadrant 2 activities. Effective people respond to opportunities to do what\u2019s important, instead of reacting to urgent problems. When things come up, it\u2019s easier to determine what\u2019s important and what isn\u2019t once you\u2019ve defined your goals and personal mission statement.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Covey asked several shopping center managers what one thing could they could do that would improve their businesses. They all responded that building better relationships with their tenants \u2014 the store owners in their shopping centers \u2014 would have a tremendous impact. However, they were so consumed with meetings and reports and other urgent matters that they were only spending about 5 percent of their time developing these relationships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Quadrant 1<\/a> was eating up so much of the managers\u2019 time, they hardly had any left for the Quadrant 2 relationship-building that they felt would greatly benefit them. The store owners were overburdened themselves with employment, cost, and inventory issues; on top of that, they only seemed to hear from the shopping center managers when something was wrong or urgent, leading to a strained relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The shopping center managers decided to take a proactive step and dedicate significantly more time to building relationships with tenants. After about a year and a half, the managers were spending about 20 percent of their time working with tenants, and in that process the managers had become better at listening and consulting the store owners so that their interactions were more positive and productive. As a result, everyone benefitted: The store owners implemented new skills and ideas that boosted sales, which increased the shopping center managers\u2019 lease revenues and interest from potential tenants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you begin shifting your attention to Quadrant 2, at first you\u2019ll only be able to take time from the unimportant Quadrant 3 and 4 activities. You\u2019ll still need to attend to the urgent and important<\/a> tasks in Quadrant 1, but those will gradually shrink as you put more effort into Quadrant II preventive activities. If you want to make time for Quadrant 2 priorities, you\u2019ll have to say \u201cno\u201d to unimportant tasks \u2014 even when they appear urgent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Certain activities may be very appealing or contribute to worthwhile causes, but are not important in contributing toward your personal goals; these will be some of the hardest things to say \u201cno\u201d to. But your time and energy are finite, so you always have to say \u201cno\u201d to some things: If you don\u2019t make a point of saying \u201cno\u201d to the unimportant tasks, then you\u2019ll be saying \u201cno\u201d to the important ones. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Keeping your focus on Quadrant 2 is a paradigm that you can develop from a principle center; having a clear sense of your mission, principles, and values, will make it easier to say \u201cno\u201d to the unimportant because you\u2019ll know you\u2019re making room for the important<\/strong>. If you\u2019re centered on something external like your spouse, work, money, or pleasure, you\u2019ll get stuck in a cycle of reacting to outside factors \u2014 and their supposedly urgent matters \u2014 in Quadrants I and III. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What is Quadrant 2 is an important question, but so is asking how we can get there.e Like any paradigm shift<\/a>, developing a Quadrant 2 paradigm will take time, practice, and deliberate effort. Start by planning out one week<\/strong> according to Covey’s Quadrant 2-focused, fourth-generation method. Just as you did for your personal mission statement, identify the various roles you have in the personal, professional, and leisure areas of your life; this will help you keep your focus and priorities balanced and avoid neglecting any particular area of your life and responsibilities. In this exercise, only focus on roles that are applicable for the next week. Think about one or two important results you\u2019d like to achieve for each role within the next week<\/strong>. These goals should contribute to the longer-term, big-picture goals in your personal mission statement, and at least some of them should fall into Covey’s Quadrant 2. If you haven\u2019t created your personal mission statement yet, be mindful to set these goals with a general focus on what\u2019s important to you in the long term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you have a list of goals to accomplish in the next week, start scheduling them. Some goals might be time-sensitive, or only doable during business or weekend hours; with this in mind, assign a day (or take it a step further and create an appointment time) to achieve each goal. As you\u2019re scheduling out your week, be sure to check your calendar for prior commitments, assess how they fit into your goals, and decide whether to keep, reschedule, or cancel them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As you move through your week, begin each day by reviewing what\u2019s on that day\u2019s agenda and remembering why these activities are important for your overall goals. When things come up unexpectedly, address them according to your goals and scheduled priorities. Third generation-style daily planning<\/a> can help you make order of your day, and it will be a more effective use of the method when it\u2019s in the context of your weekly schedule<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019ve scheduled all of your goals for the week, add a chunk of time for renewing and revitalizing activities that we\u2019ll discuss in Habit 7. Even with all of these goals and activities scheduled, your week should still have ample spaces of open, unscheduled time. <\/strong>This is critical: It gives you the flexibility to respond to unexpected events and enjoy spontaneous moments, which creates a higher quality of life and makes this approach sustainable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to achieve Quadrant 2 (or Quadrant II), you must first develop your personal mission statement and determine what is important to you. Remember, Quadrant 2 is about prioritizing things that are important, but not urgent, and are the things that will make you feel most fulfilled and let you focus on things that matter. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" But what is Quadrant 2? How do you use it? And how can you use Quadrant 2 to boost productivity? Quadrant 2 is the area of Stephen Covey\u2019s time management matrix that includes tasks that are important, but not urgent. As Covey explains in The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Quadrant 2 is the most important quadrant and to be productive, you need to spend most of your time in Quadrant 2. Working toward Quadrant 2 is an ongoing process that will be a consistent part of the 7 habits. Learn how to identify Quadrant 2 tasks to be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,30],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-8037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-self-improvement","category-work","tag-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Quadrant 2?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Shifting from Quadrant 1 to Quadrant 2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Say “No” and Make Room for Quadrant 2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to Create a Quadrant 2 Paradigm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 1: What are Your Roles?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In addition to your role as an individual, list one or more roles you have in your family (e.g. spouse, mother, daughter, sister, aunt), a few roles in your work life (e.g. executive producer, vice president of content, department manager), and one or more roles you have in your community or leisure activities (e.g. church elder, volunteer, recreational volleyball team captain).<\/p>\n\n\n\nStep 2: Set Goals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step 3: Schedule Your Goals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step 4: Adapt as Needed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n