Habit 3- Put First Things First

In the last habit we focused on planning out our actions, and only briefly touched on actually doing them. We talked about doing things that we have the ability to do, sometimes even that is overwhelming because we have the ability to do so many things. How are we supposed to know what to do and when?

While this chapter contains a lot of important information, I want to focus on Covey’s quadrant system because it has stuck with me for a long time now. In this system there are four quadrants (hence the quad of quadrant) and each column and row are labeled. As you read left to right, the columns are labeled “urgent” and “not urgent.” Moving down, we have the categories “important” and “not important.” Each quadrant is positioned at a unique cross section of these labels.

Quadrant one lies in urgent and important. This quadrant tends to be pretty stressful and deals with things like problems or crises. They require immediate attention and often, due to their urgency, we react to them. We are caught up in them and don’t have the time to think clearly and they tend to overwhelm us. When we work primarily in quadrant one, we are always putting out fires and don’t have time to plan ahead or take a breath. Even though working in this quadrant can sometimes be essential, it’s best to avoid it as much as we can.

To diminish the frequency in working in quadrant one, we want to work in quadrant two. This quadrant lies at the intersection of important and not urgent. In this quadrant we work to prevent crises and plan ahead. The work here does not require immediate attention so we have time to clearly think through however we want to navigate what lies ahead of us. Working here provides balance, serenity, and control.

For quadrant three we return back to things being urgent, but quadrant three is not important. This is where we find interruptions, some calls, and things of the like. They call for our immediate attention, but serve mostly as distractions from our goals. It sounds ridiculous to ever function in quadrant three long-term, but it can be tricky. Oftentimes people perceive quadrant three tasks as quadrant one tasks, assigning more value to them than they’re truly worth. Quadrant three is deceptive. Working here solidifies short term focus and can make you lose track of your goals.

The last quadrant is quadrant four. This is where things are neither urgent, nor important. In this quadrant you spend time on things like busywork and other meaningless tasks. In this quadrant you focus on pleasure and leisure. Neither of these things are inherently bad, but too much of anything can be harmful to other areas of your life. Functioning in the fourth quadrant leads to irresponsibility.

After learning about each quadrant, it’s more than apparent that working in quadrant two is what we should aim for. Sometimes things go awry and we have to work in another area, but quadrant two is certainly the ideal. Your quadrant two tasks are what you should focus on in your journey to accomplish your long-term goals and become an effective person. As stated before, sometimes dipping into the other quadrants is necessary, but when we focus on far-out important things is when we perform our best. 

References

Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Simon & Schuster, 2020.

Lucy M.

Undergraduate Intern 2023

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