The Four Quadrants Of Time from Jamie Edwards on Vimeo.
I wanted to share something that I have been recently been coaching in sports and business. A few weeks ago to World Cup Winner Gee Atherton came to his usual session at this point in the season with different challenges.
We were discussing the aspects of his preparation at an event that really zap him of his mental energy. He is the consummate professional and has time for everyone. Autographs, Sponsors, Family, fans, media you name it he does it.
PROBLEM: Last year at Fort William he was anxious before his race run. He didn’t feel ready. A sub-par performance and a missed championship. Why? Not the anxiety but what had created the anxiety. Lack of time. Something we all feel, right. Yes, even those who are time rich at some point feel like where has it gone.
Unfortunately, Gee ends up in any of the first three quadrants below and it impacts his performance.
TIME AS AN EMOTION
I mentioned it at a recent conference because the group where challenged with having enough time and I mentioned that to all of us TIME IS AN EMOTION.
Have you ever been in a queue and 5 minutes seemed like 25 minutes or been with someone special and you never have enough time or it just stops. You know that feeling……..as well as the deadline fast approaching, you need to get something done in even less time.
Athletes talk about not having time or that they feel like they had loads of it. It’s like currency. Spent well it makes you mentally and physically rich. Misused it can create an emotional deficit.
DO THIS FOR 7 DAYS
Where do you spend your time? Write down the things you did over the course of this week or a typical week that drained your emotional bank account.
1: DISTRACTION: What do you do to escape? What do you do that is NOT IMPORTANT and NOT URGENT. When we are stressed and don’t want to do any kind of thinking we head for this quadrant. Examples being TV (too much), Internet (too much).
What do you use to escape? What activity? How long for?
2: DELUSION: What are the things you did but were frustrated that you did them? URGENT BUT NOT REALLY THAT IMPORTANT. The creation of too many to-dos’. This is where stress comes from.
What do you feel you have to do that seemed so important in the moment? How many hours did you spend here?
3: DEMAND: Just when you have a plan you get hit with urgent DEMANDS of others. Now sometimes this is not avoidable. If your children or colleague gets sick, there’s an accident, the biggest account is about to leave and needs to talk to you. This is URGENT and IMPORTANT.
This is where the mindset of DEAL WITH IT comes in because someone else’s sense of urgency has impacted on your world. Be flexible. This is context related. If you are part of a project team then you may need to help out there get involved and review later.
Anticipation is the key to lessening the amount of time here. But what were the things you had to do immediately and were REALLY important. How many hours?
4: ZONE: What did you do that was IMPORTANT but NOT URGENT? Something that you didn’t have to do BUT you chose to do it. This is where you feel like you are in the flow and making things happen. You are zoned out on doing the tasks that are VERY IMPORTANT but NOT URGENT.
What would fit into this quadrant for you right now? What is it? The halfway point in the year. What could give you and your colleagues the advantage if you’re thinking ahead and anticipating, getting in the zone and completing the NOT URGENT but VERY IMPORTANT stuff?
Talk Soon,
Jamie
