In preparing for a leadership institute I am creating for an organization I was planning the self-leadership session. The most difficult person for me to lead is myself and I have found people have a common struggle with time. May I suggest the struggle is abo
In a previous post I discussed the four quadrants tool to help prioritize time which was first brought forward by Charles Hummel in the 1960’s and later popularized through Steven Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I won’t go into that idea now because you can learn about it here.
In my preparation I came across the book Procrastinate on Purpose by Rory Vaden. I will provide a brief overview on the concept and let you dig deeper on your own. I found combining Hummel’s framework with Vaden’s funnel gives us a process for deciding what priority a task should have. Below are some questions to help this process.
Where on the grid does this fit?
This is the question we are ultimately answering. A task or responsbility comes and we need to filter where this falls on the important/urgent grid. At times this can be challenging so we may need to filter through the following funnel Vaden created to give us a better idea.
Is this something that needs to be done?
The answer to this question or as Vaden puts it, “is this something that you can live without?” This answer determines whether we can completely remove it. As leaders we sometimes need to let go and kill the idea, task, or project.
Is this something that can be automated?
The second stage of Vaden’s funnel is what many leaders understand must occur to continue growth and progress. Is this a regularly occurring responsibility that could be systematized? For example, can you schedule your marketing so it occurs automatically? Maybe you are constantly playing e-mail schedule ping-pong with others and don’t have an assistant, but you could use a calendar service to automate scheduling.
Does someone else need to do this?
Let’s be honest, we are all control freaks on some level. Because of this tendency we get stuck in this part of the funnel. John Maxwell in his book Developing The Leader Within You 2.0 challenges us with three questions:
- Is this required of me (am I the only person who should be doing this i.e. casting vision)?
- Does this give me the greatest return?
- Is this rewarding?
If you look at these and the answers are no and someone else can do it, then take the time to train them. I understand you may not always be able to answer John’s second and third question with a yes, but if the first question is a no then hand it off.
Do I focus or procrastinate?
Now that you have answered these three questions you are back to the important/urgent grid with the critical question. Do I purposely put this off because it will be more advantageous to wait? If the answer is no, then buckle down get it done because obviously this is an important/urgent matter that only you can do.
I only touched the surface of all the great content Vaden provides in this resource. I encourage you to look at your agenda and filter it through these two grids so you are focused on the priorities that will continue moving you and your team toward your purpose. If you need help thinking into this please contact me for a thirty-minute no cost to you thinking partner session. Lead Well!
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