T I m e m a n a g e m e n t

QUADRANT 3: URGENT, BUT NOT IMPORTANT
You probably have people coming into your office, calling or
messaging you, sending you e-mails, but your responses to
them contribute little or no value to your business or your
work. They represent tasks that are urgent but not important.
These tasks fall into what is often called the “quadrant of
delusion.” People think that because they are engaging in
these activities during the working day, they must have some
value, but they are just kidding themselves into career irrele-
vance. Many people spend as much as half of their time
engaging in activities that are urgent but not important. They
are fun, easy, and enjoyable, but they make no contribution
to the work at all. Most of these activities involve idle conver-
sation with coworkers, or low-value/no-value activities.
QUADRANT 4: NOT URGENT AND NOT IMPORTANT
The fourth type of activity that people engage in at work are
those tasks that are neither urgent nor important. These activ-
ities fall into the “quadrant of waste.” Many people engage in
activities that have zero value to either themselves or the
company. Reading e-mail spam or reading the sports pages,
going shopping during the day, or driving around between
appointments listening to the radio—all are examples of
activities that are neither urgent nor important. They are a
complete waste of time. They contribute nothing to your life.
Develop Good Work Habits
The great tragedy is that if you do something repeatedly, you
soon develop a habit. And a habit, once formed, is hard to
S T A Y O N T R A C K
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break. Many people have developed the habit of spending
most of their time on low-value/no-value activities and then
are quite astonished when they are laid off from their jobs or
passed over for promotion.
The key to good time management is for you to set prior-
ities and to always be working on what is both urgent and
important—that is, your most pressing and important tasks.
Once you are caught up with your tasks that are urgent and
important, you immediately start work on those tasks that
are important but not urgent at the moment. The tasks that
are important but not urgent are usually those tasks and
activities that can contribute to your career in a meaningful
way in the long term.
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Determine Your 
Key Result Areas
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