When it’s Important but not Urgent…

In the previous article, we mentioned a possible fourth factor to Succession Planning getting delayed and that is simply because it’s not urgent.

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WHEN IT’S IMPORTANT BUT NOT URGENT

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, said in a 1954 speech…

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“I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”

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Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, took Eisenhower’s words and used them to develop the now well-known task management tool known as the Eisenhower Matrix.

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This tool helps you divide your tasks into four categories: Do, Decide, Delegate and Delete.

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DO (Urgent & Important) – These are urgent tasks that must be down now, have clear consequences and affect your long-term goals.?Examples of urgent tasks may include:

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·? Finishing a report with a last-minute deadline

·? Handling an urgent client request

·? Fixing a leaking pipe in your home

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DECIDE (Important & Not Urgent) – These tasks affect your long-term goals but don’t need to be done right away… which is why they so often get procrastinated.?

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·? Sign up for a leadership development course

·? Attend an industry networking event

·? Implement a Succession Planning Process ;-)

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DELEGATE (Urgent & Not Important) – These are tasks that must be completed now but they don’t necessarily affect your long-term goals.? Because you as a leader should only do what only you can do, these tasks should be delegated.?

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·? Calendaring and travel

·? Social media outreach

·? Fielding non-client emails

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DELETE (Not Urgent & Not Important) - These unimportant, non-urgent distractions are simply getting in the way of you accomplishing your goals.

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·? Social media scrolling

·? Unnecessary emails and phone calls

·? Excessive socializing

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MAKING ROOM FOR THE BIG ROCKS

The above categories are reminiscent of the motivational speaker who used a big glass jar on a table to illustrate a similar concept. He took out a bag full of big rocks and filled the jar with these big rocks. He turned to the audience and asked, "Is it full?” Well, of course, it looks full, so yes, it's full.

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Then he brings out this bag of pebbles and pours the pebbles in the jar which fill up around the rocks and pebbles. “Is it full?” And now the audience has caught on.

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Lastly, he brings out a pitcher of water and he pours the water into the jar. Once that's full, everybody admits, “Yup, nothing else is going in that jar.”

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The point he went on to make was this: If those big rocks are your goals (or your big areas of life that are important to you), and you had started with the water, would you have been able to get the big rocks in the jar?

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To his point, you have to start with the big rocks. If you don’t, you'll never make room for them. And unfortunately, the way most of us work is we start our days with sand and water, those things that are not as essential as the big rocks or even the pebbles.

Once we become hyper-aware of what this tendency is costing us, we are more likely to reclaim our mornings, schedule our "Important" activities (don't forget vacations, exercise, meditation, etc.) and delete or delegate the less than important things from our lives!

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~ Nancy Roberts

The DISC Wizard

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“A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession.”?

~ John C. Maxwell, author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership