What is important is not urgent, and what is urgent is rarely important. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Eisenhower Decision Matrix

Take a minute to think about the typical activities that make up your day.  Where would each one fit on the matrix above?  A lot of us find ourselves spending a lot of our time working on things that are coming at us.  They hit our inbox and we feel the pull to respond and deal with them right away.  Or we hear the phone ring and allow that to pull us away for an important report we are working on.  The result is that our most important tasks, the  work that would advance our work in ways that are significant and strategic, often get pushed aside in favor of putting out small fires.

When you look at the grid above, does it provide you with a little more perspective?  Does it make you more motivated to focus on the tasks that are most important, even if they are not urgent?  That’s the hope!

Here’s my challenge to you.  Today, for just 30 minutes, work without allowing any interruptions on a task that is important but not urgent.  For that period of time, practice not looking at your email or picking up your phone.  If you have a door, shut it.  If there are other distractions, find a way to minimize them.    Focus your attention entirely on something that is important but not urgent.

You’ll be providing yourself with leadership, taking charge of your time, taking aim at a vision.  After taking this cue from Eisenhower, perhaps you’ll even start to feel presidential.