Too Busy To Practice Good Health?
(This Simple Strategy Can Free Up At Least 2 Hours A Day!)
I doubt that anyone on their death bed has ever agonized over NOT spending enough time watching TV… or that they spent TOO MUCH time with their family. Let’s face it, some activities that consume our day are more important than others… MUCH more important! Yet life has a way of piling the trivial so high in front of us that we can’t seem to get to the things that REALLY matter.
The secret to overcoming this problem is to decide which activities are TRULY important and tattoo an oath in the palm of your hand… that you’ll put those things FIRST!
“The 4 Categories of Time Use”
Category 1 – “Urgent AND Important”
These are activities such as:
- Getting an injured child to the emergency room.
- Paying the light bill.
- April the 15th!
In each of these examples, if you ignore the situation, the problem gets MUCH worse. And dealing with it later would require more of EVERYTHING… more time, more money… and much more energy! (This is where brush fires become FOREST fires!)
Category 2 – “Not Urgent… But IMPORTANT“
These are activities such as:
- Preparation
- Planning
- Education
- Prevention
- Relationship building.
If the other categories represent time SPENT, then Category 2 – “Not Urgent… But Important”… represents time INVESTED… with compound interest!! For example, invest time in getting a good education and it will pay you dividends for a lifetime. Likewise… spend an hour a day building your health and you’ll reap the benefits for the rest of your life.
The irony is, this activities in this category almost NEVER carry a sense of urgency. So it’s very easy to just let things slide.
For instance, if you don’t spend time today with your spouse or your children, nothing bad will happen… at least not right away. But if you neglect them as a habit, then disaster and heartbreak are surely waiting somewhere down the road!
Category 3 – “Urgent… But NOT Important”
These are activities such as:
- Interruptions
- Some phone calls
- Drop-bys at the office
- Many popular activities
Time Spent in this category is gone forever!
Sometimes, the noise of urgency can create the FALSE ILLUSION of importance. But these activities, if they are important at all, are usually important to SOMEONE ELSE. Much time can be stolen from you in this category!
Category 4 – “NOT Urgent And NOT Important”
These are activities such as:
- Trivia
- Busywork
- Excessive Social Media
- Gossip
If, for just 1 week, you were to write down how you spend your time, you might be shocked at how much time you spend in Category 4 – “NOT Urgent – NOT Important”.
Observations about the 4 Categories:
- It’s easy to confuse URGENT with IMPORTANT.
- Urgency in itself is not the problem… life happens. The problem comes when urgency becomes the DOMINANT factor in life… to the EXCLUSION of the important.
- The more time you invest in Category 2 -” Not Urgent But Important”, the less time you’ll have to spend putting out fires!
- Time SPENT in Categories 2, 3 and 4 are gone FOREVER!
- On the other hand, time INVESTED in The “Important but not Urgent” usually pays dividends for the rest of your life!
2 Strategies for getting the most out of this concept
- If you can’t find the time to regularly invest in Category 2… then STEAL it from Category 4!
- If that doesn’t free up enough time for working in Category 2, then move into Category 3… and take it from there.
For your sake… and for your loved ones, learn to say “NO” to the trivial. It’s your life we’re talking about!!
(Concept for this article taken from Stephen Covey’s “First Things First”)
