Priorities before efficiency.
WHY IT COMES BEFORE TECHNIQUE
Doing unimportant work efficiently is still waste.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
What actually produces results in your work.
HOW
Examine what has produced results previously.
WHAT THAT USUALLY REVEALS
A small proportion of activities producing most of the outcome.
WHAT TO DO WITH THAT
Protect time for those, first.
WHAT TO DISTINGUISH
Important: it affects outcomes
Urgent: it demands attention now
WHY THE DISTINCTION MATTERS
Urgency is loud and importance is quiet, so urgent work displaces important work.
WHAT THAT PRODUCES
Days spent entirely on things that demanded attention, with nothing advanced.
WHAT THE FOUR COMBINATIONS ARE
- Important and urgent: do it
- Important and not urgent: schedule it
- Urgent and not important: minimise or delegate it
- Neither: eliminate it
WHERE MOST VALUE SITS
Important and not urgent.
WHY IT IS NEGLECTED
Nothing forces it, and it can always be deferred.
WHAT EXAMPLES LOOK LIKE
Planning Building capability Improving processes Developing relationships Preventing problems
WHY PREVENTION SPECIFICALLY
Time spent preventing problems removes the urgent work that consumes the week.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
Time protected for that category.
WHAT TO ASK OF ANY TASK
Whether it advances anything that matters.
WHAT TO DO IF NOT
Stop doing it.
