What is the Time Management Matrix?
The Time Management Matrix was devised by Stephen Covey, author of ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’. It is a tool that people can use to categorize tasks and activities while learning effective time management.
The matrix comprises four quadrants, each with a heading relating to the importance and urgency of a task. Therefore, it can help people assess what they are spending their time on and if it is a productive use of their time. This can be used for both professional and personal productivity and responsibilities.
What do the headings refer to?
Within each of the four quadrants is a heading relating to importance and urgency.
Important
Important tasks are those that contribute to long-term professional goals or personal development. So, they will require attention and effort to achieve but may not be urgent.
However, if they are not urgent, they can often get ignored and this will likely lead to them becoming incredibly urgent. Therefore, it is useful to understand the differences between importance and urgency and how to prioritize these tasks.
Urgent
Urgent tasks must be dealt with immediately. Either they have suddenly appeared and must be managed straight away, or they are the result of poor planning.
This means that there is often pressure to complete these tasks swiftly for some significant reason. However, often when managing urgent things, we become distracted from an important project.
What are the four quadrants?
Quadrant 1 – Important and urgent
Quadrant 1 is the top left quadrant on the matrix.
Tasks in quadrant 1 are usually crises or emergencies and must not be ignored, as they require immediate attention. This might be due to an impending deadline, a time-sensitive task, or to alleviate immediate risks.
For example, it may be that a family member has had an accident so you need to attend the hospital urgently. This cannot be avoided and is both important and urgent.
It could also be that a deadline is approaching rapidly and you had time to complete the work but did not. This could have been prevented and is now very urgent.
Spending a lot of time on quadrant 1 tasks can lead to burnout and stress. This is because, we are often fire-fighting and reacting to situations as they appear, which results in constant stress. So, if we can ascertain what is important and spend time planning or working on it we can prevent tasks from becoming urgent. Thus, we must focus on quadrant 2 tasks.
Quadrant 2 – Important and not urgent
Quadrant 2 is the top right quadrant on the matrix.
Tasks in quadrant 2 are often related to planning, improvements, and building relationships. This quadrant is the most important for long-term development, both professionally and personally. Covey stated that the most effective people will focus on this quadrant the most.
Tasks in this quadrant require discipline and help us control the balance of our lives. This then results in fewer crises arising and better time management.
For example, getting a service on your car, eating healthily and exercising, and spending time with loved ones.
Quadrant 3 – Urgent and not important
Quadrant 3 is the bottom left quadrant on the matrix.
Tasks in quadrant 3 are often tasks that waste our time. This relates to things such as phone calls and urgent emails. We become distracted by these things and feel we must deal with them urgently. However, they just distract us from the important tasks and result in more quadrant 1 tasks arising.
Often, you could have prevented these tasks with better planning. But now you cannot avoid them. Therefore, this stops us from focusing on our goals and results in our relationships and our work suffering.
Unfortunately, we often feel we do not have control over the tasks that arise in this quadrant. However, we can occasionally delegate or reschedule some of these tasks, so they do not become time wasters.
Quadrant 4 – Not important and not urgent
Quadrant 4 is the bottom right quadrant on the matrix.
Tasks in quadrant 4 are time wasters. When we focus on this quadrant, we lost control over our lives, lack drive, and depend on others. As such, most tasks in quadrant 4 can be deleted.
For example, spending hours playing video games or watching TV. Clearly, these tasks are of low priority and do not contribute to our goals.
How to manage time better with the management matrix
List
Make a list of all the urgent tasks that you spend a lot of time on. With this list, consider how some of these tasks could be prevented or made simpler. This will add tasks to quadrant 2 and remove them from quadrant 1.
Make time
Now you must make time for quadrant 2 tasks. You can do this by eliminating quadrant 4 activities! Instead of watching TV all day, save it for a few hours in the evening. Allocate time for pleasure activities so they don’t take up time for important tasks.
You can also alleviate some of the responsibilities of quadrant 3 by saying no to people, setting boundaries for your time, and delegating tasks. Now, you have saved time from other quadrants to spend on the tasks in quadrant 2.
Schedule
Make a schedule of when you will complete quadrant 2 tasks. Put this in your calendar and stick to it! Don’t allow anything to distract you from this as this is crucial to your time management.
Cycle
Spending more time on quadrant 2 tasks will result in fewer tasks in quadrant 1. This, in turn, will create more time for working on quadrant 2 tasks. This creates a more positive cycle and reduces the chance for something to come up that requires immediate attention.
How do you know what is important?
It is all relative, isn’t it? What is important to you may not be important to me. Consider what is actually important to you. Maybe you find watching TV to be a good stress reliever and don’t want to remove this from your life. Maybe you regularly watch sports but this is a good time for you to bond with your friends.
Assess the importance of each quadrant 4 activity. Remember, you can allocate it to quadrant 2 if it is deemed important. However, be sensible with this and allocate an appropriate amount of time.
Be clear with yourself about what is important. Also, work out how much time is required for each of these activities so you can plan your week effectively.
Benefits of using Covey’s time management matrix
Increased productivity
Using the time management matrix will help you prioritize your time. You will quickly find that you are more efficient and can regularly complete crucial tasks.
The more productive you are, the more you will achieve. This will reduce stress and improve your attitude towards work. This, in turn, will contribute even further to a more productive use of time.
Clear understanding
Using the time management matrix will enable you to figure out where you are spending your time. Understanding which task fits into which quadrant will help make clear lists and prioritize more effectively.
You will gain a better understanding of your behaviors in relation to work ethic and can amend this to focus more on quadrant 2 tasks if needed.
Work-life balance
By using the time management matrix for your professional life, you will achieve more at work. This is beneficial for work relationships as well as your own attitude towards work. Also, by doing this, you will have more time in the evenings for your pleasure activities.
Increased productivity at work will also improve your mood and reduce stress. This will ensure that time with your loved ones is more enjoyable. It will also mean that your mind won’t wander onto work-related issues as much so you can actually enjoy your free time.
Improved planning skills
Covey’s time management matrix will help you to prioritize tasks and effectively set short-term goals. You will gain a better understanding of what is important and how much time is required to complete these tasks.
With this improved knowledge, you will find it easier to plan your day or week. It will also become easier to plan for long-term goals and the implementation of these using time management strategies.
How to implement it
List
Make a list of all tasks you have to complete. This can include anything from your generic to-do list for the day, to the tasks required to complete your long-term goals. Ensure these list items are brief and clear in order to prevent misunderstandings or mishaps. Ensure you add any deadlines to tasks that require them.
Prioritize
Identify which tasks are urgent and which are important, in order to clearly define the differences. Prioritize your tasks, including the urgent things. Perhaps number them in order of priority. Take into consideration any deadlines and time-sensitive tasks, without moving all important tasks to the bottom of the list.
Assess
Work out which of the four quadrants each task lies in. Remember that if anything lies in quadrant 1 it must be managed immediately. Ideally, you will place very few tasks in quadrant 1, because these distract us from more meaningful tasks. Work through your prioritized list, taking notes of how long each task takes to complete. Repeat this each week so you can evaluate productivity and any changes.
Evaluate
At the end of each week, consider your productivity. Reflect on what you have managed well and if anything could have been managed better. Are you spending a lot of time on quadrant 1 activities? Are you distracted by quadrant 3 tasks? Or are you even wasting time on quadrant 4 activities?
Initially, this may take some getting used to, as you learn how to prioritize and set boundaries with yourself and others. The aim is to see an improvement in productivity and time management after a few weeks. Specifically, you should be spending the most time on quadrant 2 tasks. If this is not the case, adjust your schedule and continue to aim for this.
Tips
Remember, if you are getting bogged down by urgent but not important tasks, you can make changes. Particularly with quadrant 3 tasks, it might be simple to rearrange or delegate tasks, so that you can focus on other important tasks.
Also, it is possible to simply delete unnecessary tasks, if they are not a priority, are not urgent, or important. Take some time to consider this.
Most importantly, don’t allow your own emotions to cloud your rational judgment and decision-making. Try to use the time management matrix as rationally and logically as possible for the best results.