Using The Time Management Matrix To Plan Your Days And Prioritize Your Tasks

by Inspiration4Living.com

Quadrant One of the time management matrix consists of those tasks that are not only important, but also urgent. In other words, these are your top priority. Things that go into the first quadrant are items such as work deadlines, important meetings, emergencies or crises, or other things that cannot be put off. Your Quadrant One may look like this:

Feed children
Put out fire in kitchen
Go to doctor
Complete work project with deadline

Quadrant Two of the time management matrix consists of those things that are important to you; however, they may not be urgent. In other words, they are things you would like to get done, but they don’t require your immediate attention. This quadrant is called the “Quality Quadrant” or “Quadrant of Quality.”

Examples of things that go into this quadrant may include taking a vacation, going for a workout, having a routine doctor’s checkup, or other things that will enhance your life but are not necessarily emergencies. Your Quadrant Two may look something like this:

Go to the beach
Go to the gym
Plan a family game night
Go out with friends
Enroll in a class
Learn a new skill

This quadrant is sometimes called the Pleasure Quadrant as well, since it includes things you want to do for fun.

The next quadrant of the time management matrix, Quadrant Three, consists of the things in your life that may be urgent; however, they are not necessarily important to you. This includes such item as emails, phone interruptions, and doing others’ work. Your Quadrant Three may look something like this:

Checking email
Answering phone calls
Helping coworkers complete tasks
Picking up boss’s dry cleaning
Dealing with a friend’s crises

The goal is to eliminate some of the time wasters in your life, and a lot of these time wasters can be found in Quadrant Three. This is the quadrant of leaning to say “no” when you don’t have the time to complete tasks.

Quadrant Four of the time management matrix is the one in which you would place things that are neither important nor urgent in your life. These activities are the “fillers” in your day and are things you can definitely do without.

Examples of items you may place in Quadrant Four include procrastination, playing computer games, idly surfing the net, etc. These are things that you may not even realize you are spending a great deal of time on each day. When you sit down and start working on your time management matrix, you may be amazed at how much time you spend in the Quadrant of Waste (Quadrant Four).

Your Quadrant Four may look something like this:

Surfing the internet
Playing computer games
Talking on the phone about unimportant matters
Sending junk emails
Reading junk emails

Once you start developing your own time management matrix, you will be able to optimize the time you spend on your daily tasks. The goal is to eliminate as many time wasters as possible from Quadrants Three and Four, and compact as much time in Quadrant One, so you can spend as much time in Quadrant Two (the quadrant of self improvement and happiness) as possible. By using this time management matrix tool, you can reclaim your days and make the most of the time you have.

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