Comfort Zone - A Dream Killer!

Just imagine yourself deciding against  

- upskilling yourself as you get older

- looking for new opportunities when you feel dissatisfied at work

- moving out of a relationship, which doesn't seem to be working out, inspite of your best efforts

- pursuing your hobbies or interests, when there is clearly a need for you to relax and de-stress

Maybe you overlooked the long-term impact the above could have on you. The "present" may seem to matter more for you because it's not putting demands on you to do anything new or different. 

But can you afford to remain oblivious to the need to grow and progress during these dynamic times?

MAYBE NOT !!!   

Because it's anybody's guess about what all we stand to lose if we decide to remain static and inflexible. 

REMEMBER - "You can't learn to swim in still water...You can't move ahead by confining yourself to status quo...You can't progress by staying stationary...You can't grow unless you nurture yourself"

And when living your BEST LIFE is at stake, you can't take chances by being average or mediocre.

The home you may have confined yourself to may seem comfortable for a while and in some cases, a while longer, but the charm soon wanes off. The familiar territory starts to appear so alien and the feelings of ease and comfort gets replaced with fear and uncertainty. 

A comfort zone can feel like home, just like resting on the seaside after an exhilarating swim. If it is only about resting for a while, its absolutely fine BUT when you get too comfortable being comfortable that’s when the real problem begins.

When you become like a ship docked in harbour for too long, you stop exploring the waters.

When in comfort zone, be mindful about not staying there for too long else complacency will creep in and steal away your progress & potential.

So, GEAR UP to

- try something new,
- try some challenging stuff,
- push your limits &
- give the unthinkable a chance!

Stretch yourself a little more…Step beyond your comfort zone BECAUSE that is where the MAGIC is 😊!!!

Make a START!

SUCCESS...ACHIEVEMENT...PROGRESS...GROWTH...EXCELLENCE

All these may only remain a far-fetched dream if you fail to take that first step of STARTING on our GOALS. You can't always expect yourself to know the road ahead but unless you start, you won't discover what lies ahead. 

The wrong turns, the speed breakers, the roadblocks - you get to know of them once you START on your JOURNEY. There's always scope for COURSE CORRECTION as and when the situation may demand it.

All those times when you have lagged behind or failed to accomplish, there's a good chance that it may have been to do with your inability to START.

Once you START, life moves from bad to good, good to better, better to best and there's nothing that you can't accomplish once you make the right START.

Here's a peek into the MAGIC that occurs once you MAKE A START.

- Once you start to LISTEN, you start to COMMUNICATE BETTER

- Once you start to CONNECT, you start to COLLABORATE

- Once you start to DO, you start to ACHIEVE

- Once you start to FOCUS, you start to EXCEL

- Once you start to BELIEVE IN SELF, you start to PERFORM AT YOUR BEST

- Once you start to ACCEPT YOUR MISTAKES, you start to LEARN MORE 

- Once you start SELF-CARE, you start to FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF

Remember - IT ALL FALLS IN PLACE ONCE YOU START! 

What's your raison d'etre?

Let's start with few simple questions

Are you excited about what you do?

Do you know why you do what you do?

If your answer is NO to any or both of the above, then it's time for self-introspection!

So, what should you do when you realize that your heart is not in the work you are doing and you seem to be just going through the motions?

The easiest thing to do is to start playing the blame game and look for the easy scapegoats, but the question to ask here is - for how long can you keep doing so and where would this lead to, in the long run? Is it going to lead to something better in your life or only lead to more confusion?

The feeling of emptiness that stares at you at the end of every workday and the frustration and irritation you experience in your work is an indication of "motivation" missing from your life and that's exactly what you should be addressing.

This is when you should start to engage in self-probe and discover the "WHY" of your work, the missing "PURPOSE" of your work/ life. What is it that keeps you going? What is it that gets you excited about life? What is it that makes you look forward to the day? 

It's not difficult to sense whether you are living with a purpose. When your head and heart are in sync while doing what you do, then it's an indication that you are living your purpose. When, at the end of the day, you feel you have made a difference with your action/ activities, you can be rest assured that you are living with a purpose.

PURPOSE and PASSION go hand-in-hand. Start by getting your purpose in place and the passion will follow suit. And, when you hit the sweet spot at the intersection of the two, you will be on course to discover your IKIGAI too!

Focus on the value you want to generate and the impact you want to create and you would start on your journey to discovering your purpose. get to understand the difference you want to bring through what you do and therein will lie your purpose.

There's always an impact you are creating with your vocation and all you need to do to realize that is to link your efforts to the big picture!

Summing up concisely, here's what you need to be aware of

Why do you need Purpose in life? As simply as to make your life worthwhile and live with an agenda.

How do you know you are living with Purpose? When you start to feel that you have accomplished something and have made a difference with your work/ vocation.

How do you go about identifying your Purpose? Observing whether what you are doing(actions) is generating the impact that you have identified for your life.

It's time to start living "purposefully"!

Make Self-Care A Priority

Have we felt as strongly for Self-Care as we feel now ?

Maybe NO, because the present times are drastically different from any other and the crisis of this magnitude is a "first" for many of us. Till now, we could afford to ignore the need for self-care, even with a lame excuse and get away with it. But now is the time to give due importance to self-care and put it on priority else coping with the situation will become impossible for us. Ignoring self-care will only leave us more vulnerable and lead to anxiety, depression, and various other debilitating emotions/ feelings.

The turn of events during these unpredictable times may leave us overwhelmed and lead to losing focus on "self" but a quick reminder to ourselves that self-care is the only way to beat the blues could set us up to put self-care back on our radar and get going.

It's very important to understand that self-care is a comprehensive and holistic approach to wellness and includes physical, mental and emotional aspects of our personality.

The trick to effective self-care lies in making it an integral part of our lifestyle and mentioned below are few tips that could help us achieve the same.

Keep Things Simple

At times like these (crisis), the intention should be to avoid complicating the things so that they don't overwhelm us. The more manageable things are for us, the more we are in control of ourselves. We can always keep things simple by

• living in the present because that's where it's all happening. moving beyond the present, into the times which hasn't arrived brings undue stress. all the action happens in the present and that's why it's important to stay there, in the present.

• taking things as they unfold - pre-empting things doesn't work out in these situations where uncertainty and unpredictability rule the roost. being patient is the key, so wait and watch how things shape up and then prepare ourselves accordingly. acting in haste is a complete waste in this scenario.

• focusing on what we can control, even if it's a tiny thing/ task/ action - it's good to have an opinion but being obsessed with it (opinion) if we can't change the facts is waste of energy. there are always going to be things falling outside our scope of control so it makes more sense to expend our energy and effort on things under our control and it could be the crucial task of managing our reaction to a bad/ unfavourable event. 

• attempting one thing at a time - multitasking is a myth but at times like these when we feel overwhelmed, we attempt to do too many things at the same time. this results in us losing focus and patience and we end up with multiple incomplete tasks. the best approach to avoid undue stress and pressure at this time is to prioritise things and do them one at a time. 

Go Easy On Self

It's natural human reaction to try our best to address the challenges effectively and at the earliest to avoid any major damage to self. But in our attempt to do so, we, knowingly or unknowingly, put ourselves under extreme pressure to do the right things and to do it in time. These self-imposed deadlines/ timelines could result in a biased mindset and we may end up being irrational in our decision-making. Remember, self-care is about being kind to our self, so let's try and be our best ally. Few ways that could help us go easy on ourself are

• stopping judging ourself - with plenty of negative influences around us, we may get into the habit of labeling ourselves. playing neutral ensures we stay sane and in control of things

• avoiding overthinking - The 2 most harmful thinking errors that we may get prone to during crisis are 1) playing victim, where we may start assuming to have been singled out to suffer, and 2) catastrophizing, where we tend to magnify the situation and get obsessed with the worst possibility.

• limiting media exposure - during times of crisis, media is bound to be filled with more news and stories about loss, despair and sadness. It's wise to avoid too much exposure to media of any form (electronic news media or social media). limiting our media exposure to gaining update on the situation and on watching news/  stories about hope and courage will be helpful. consuming only that content which keeps your spirits up is the best use of our time spent on media.

• dropping all expectations - when times are unsure, there's no point in building expectations of any sort from anyone, neither from self nor from others. the only expectation that may come true is the dawn of a new order and we can never be prepared in advance to build anticipation for this unknown and unseen entity. there's merit in having zero expectations and living more realistically. 

Seek Progress

It's very important that when we encounter any calamity in life, we try to maintain the forward momentum. Life is all about moving ahead, even if that happens by way of small, tiny steps. It may happen that life may come to a complete standstill and may not offer us any hope for future but if we proceed with an intent to keep moving ahead in some way, we will keep progressing. Here are few ways we can seek progress even during tough times

• looking for possibilities - among the plethora of problems that may come our way during crisis, keeping an eye for the silver lining or the bright spot is the only way to stay positive. "what is it that is still a possibility" could become the new mantra for us.

• identifying opportunities - the paradigm shift that occurs may close many previous doors but surely opens up many new ones. all that we need to do is to move out of our comfort zone and look around with fresh perspective.

• watching our self talk - words have great power and during times of difficulty, we rely a lot on our inner voice. ensure that what we tell ourselves uplifts us and gives us strength and hope. be watchful about the conversation with self as the self-talk has a direct impact on our self-esteem.

• doing what gives us strength - Vulnerability is at its peak during this time of uncertainty and the best we can do for ourselves is to pick up an activity/ hobby/ passion that makes us calm and provide us with strength to deal with the difficult times with ease.

Self-Care isn't just about being good to ourselves but also about being a contributor of optimism and hope for others too, especially when everyone needs them (optimism and hope) in abundance !

Investments That Never Fail Us In LIfe !

Undoubtedly Money is the most prioritised resource for most of us and special care is taken while investing it. It does not require much thinking to decide where to invest money. The most obvious strategy being to invest where it gives the maximum returns. We try our best to invest our money in the right place and at the right so as to get the best returns on it.

Now, let me shift the context to the most crucial aspect of our existence i.e. our LIFE. How many times have we given a thought to the investments that will maximise the returns on our life and enable us to live a more fulfilling life ? I am sure most of us have not even thought about it ever. We just seem to be crawling along and satisfied with whatever comes our way.

In the wake of the decreasing human attention span (which is about 8 seconds), "minimum attention, maximum retention" seems to be the only mantra that most of us swear by and live by in today's time. We live with the principle of extracting the maximum output from the input but this principle aids our growth and development only when we have a clarity about the "inputs". Apart from money, what are those other "essential resources" that impact our life considerably in terms of success and growth ?  It's not easy to identify the other "resources" from the plethora that we confront every day but here, in this post, i cover 4 such resources that abide by the basic principle of "minimising-maximising" of the times. These 4 resources could prove to be a good investment if handled with care and caution (wisely). Let's discuss these four crucial investments that can turn around our lives for good.

• EMOTIONS : Emotions are the bedrock of a complete/ whole personality. Whether it's about ensuring a holistic personality, creating balance in life, excelling at work or building strong relationships, emotions play a crucial role. Investing emotions wisely can help us prevent spiralling downwards in life during crucial events and situations. Imagine getting into a regrettable relationship and wasting crucial years/ period of your life without any gain/ growth/ stability whatsover. Emotions work on the concept of "attachment or bond(ing)". The more attached we feel towards something (person, product, situation, etc.), the more emotions we invest into the thing. An emotionally disturbed person can never take rational decisions and also becomes very tentative in approach towards life. This leads to drop in confidence and esteem which directly impacts the personality of the individual. So, be wary of where you invest your emotions. 

• ENERGY : If momentum is what maintains consistency towards success in our life, then energy is what builds up that momentum. Most of the times, its that surge, that burst of energy that spurs us for unabated action when faced with the likelihood of giving up in life. If we can manage to direct/ redirect our energy at the right moment towards the right task, then we can be assured of accomplishing our goals in a timely manner. So, when it comes to investing your energy, be careful about expending it on the right areas/ tasks/ activity and at the appropriate moment so that it yields the best results. Never let go of any opportunity for the lack of desired energy that may be needed to complete the task. While running the sprint, its the final burst of energy that decides the winner between/ among the sprinters running neck to neck. There have been so many instances in the sprint world when the winner was decided on the basis of fraction of second. The runner who put in that required energy in time came out triumph. So, be like the sprinter and be ready for the "burst" when the need arises. 

• FOCUS : One of the big paradox that we are living today is that of FOCUS. The more we lose it, the more we demand it. Surrounded and bombarded with umpteen distraction, we just can't seem to pay sufficient attention to the things that demand it. With constant dwindling of human attention span, the resource of "Focus" had become more crucial in our lives and gradually moving towards becoming a "rare commodity". The market boasts of many tools and practices (based on the concept of Mindfulness is one such example) aimed at improving focus and attention span. Few examples of the same are Mindfulness, Pomodoro  and TimeBoxing The best strategy to derive the maximum return from FOCUS lies in "monotasking" instead of multi-tasking and paying our full attention to the task till its completion.

• TIME : Everything in our life, whether work, relationship or self-growth consumes a part of our time. But being a perishable resource, we can only give a portion of our time to each of the item and if we get the time allocation wrong, it takes us many steps backward in life and leave us with many unfulfilled tasks and things. The "limited (in quantity)" nature of Time makes it imperative that we make the optimum use of time available to us and the best way to do so is to imbibe the practice of Prioritisation in our approach to work and life. We will always have plenty of things seeking our attention but the moment we gain clarity about the sequence to invest our time is when we extract the best from our investment in time. Few techniques that can help us in this regard are Pareto Principle, Eisenhower Matrix    

Remember, success and happiness in our life will always accrue from making the right investments  !

When Prioritisation defines Productivity (Part 3) - Warren Buffet 5/ 25 Rule

Warren Buffet's 5/25 Rule

When Prioritisation defines Productivity, it is not always about what we select but also about what we leave/ don't select. We will always have plenty on our list and it will never be easy to focus and direct our energy and effort on the things that matter most. Here's a rule/ strategy by Warren Buffet, one of the most successful investors in the world, about identifying an focusing on the important things in our life. The rule is known as 5/25 Rule. The power and impact of the rule could be gauged from the fact that it comes from one of the most successful person in the world. 

The story behind the rule goes like this - Mike Flint was Buffet's personal airplane pilot for 10 years and one day Buffet decided to help him plan out his career goals and priorities. The exercise involved Mike listing down 25 important goals of his life and then identifying the top 5 important goals to focus all his energy and effort on. The key highlight of the story is when being asked by Buffet about what he would do with the remaining 20 goals, Mike replied that he would work on these 20 goals intermittently while working on his 5 key goals. This is when Buffet corrected Mike by telling him that those 20 goals are the ones that he needs to avoid at all cost until he finishes with the top five. This is how Buffet helped Mike apply the 5/25 Rule for creating dedicated focus on his career goals and priorities. 

Let's look at the steps of applying the 5/ 25 Rule 

• Identify the area you want to focus on : Choose the area that's creating the most imbalance in your life and that has the maximum impact on your life

• Make a list of 25 goals in the area : Build a list of 25 goals, whether short-term or long-term. Make it a wish list and include every conceivable goal related to that area of your life.

• Identify the top 5 priority goals : This is the most crucial step of the process. Out of the 25 identified goals, identify the most important 5 goals that (according to you) has the maximum impact on your life. 

• Focus on the top 5 identified goals : Focus all your energy and effort on the top 5 identified goals and eliminate the rest 20 goals. Ensure you don't pay any attention to these "avoid at all cost" 20 goals till you have succeeded in the top 5 identified goals.

The 5/25 rule can be applied to any area of our life and the above exercise could even be done, in general, about life, without getting specific about any area of life.

Remember, the items 6 - 25 are also important but the rule suggests that we avoid letting them become distractions for us while we work on the topmost 5 goals.

Related Articles :

• When Prioritisation defines Productivity (Part 2 )- PARETO PRINCIPLE 

• When Priritisation defines Productivity (Part 3) - EISENHOWER MATRIX

So, get focused and go full throttle in achieving your 5 goals !       

Productivity in a matter of (5) Seconds !

Do you remember how many times you let go of life-transforming opportunities because of a want of action ? Those moments when just a single "inside push (motivation)" from you could have changed the things for better and made your doubts, fears and worries disappear ! 

Try and recollect 

• That resolution of yours to get up early to exercise/ meditate but then letting laziness take over
• that intent to imbibe a new positive habit in self but not supplementing the intent with action,
•  that chance/ risk to make life better but preferring to stay in the comfort zone !

The examples are plenty and all they point to is that it's just a matter of "few seconds" that can make all the difference. If utilised well, these "few seconds" could move us from a static state to a state of action and onto the road to high productivity ! 

Here's sharing about 5 Second Rule (5-4-3-2-1) rule by Mel Robbins and this rule is all about how "five seconds" could turn out to be life changing for us if we can push ourself to take action in the right direction. The rule states that we just get a window of 5 seconds to act on our instinct of doing something we want to and if we don't act within these 5 seconds then hesitation kicks in and excuses take over our brain.

The 5-second rule is very simple to apply - Whenever you get an urge/ instinct to do something that you know you should do, then count backwards from 5 to 1, like 5-4-3-2-1, and just do it (take action). 

Mel has provided the following definition for the 5-second rule "If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it". 

  

The 5 elements of the rule are nicely explained by Mel and i touch upon them, briefly, below:  

First: “The moment you have an instinct…” 

The "instinct" is defined as the the urge, pull or "gut feeling" which tell us to go or not to go for something. It's that guiding "inner voice/ wisdom"

Second: “To act on a goal…”

Being aware of our goal(s) ensures that we take actions to achieve them. Tie/ Align the "gut feeling" or "instinct" to a goal of your life to get the necessary motivation/ inspiration for taking action.

Third: “You must push yourself…”

However hard the things may be, but if we need to take control of our life, we need to push ourselves out of our comfort zone. 

Fourth: “To move within 5 seconds…”

When we get the 5-second opportunity, it's important that we take some positive and progressive action in the direction of our goal. If we don't take any action within those 5 seconds, then our brain is gonna take control and kill the thoughts of action. Even a small, tiny action within these 5 seconds will matter a lot.

Fifth: “Or your brain will kill it.”

Hesitation, Confusion, Overthinking on our part sends a signal to the brain that things are not okay. This leads the brain to go into a defensive mode, compelling us to move into an "inaction" mode.

For a detailed explanation on the five elements of 5-second rule, please refer to this wonderful article by Mel herself - https://melrobbins.com/blog/five-elements-5-second-rule/

Science behind 5-second rule 

Prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain that is related to things like decision making, planning, and cognitive functions. The 5-second rule has direct relation with the pre-frontal cortex. When we start applying the 5-second rule (start taking action within those 5 seconds), we start taking control of our life and turn on the pre-frontal cortex too. I am not detailing the science behind the 5-second rule because Mel has detailed it our wonderfully in her article at -  https://melrobbins.com/blog/5-second-rule-hack-science-explained/

Recommended Reading - The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins

Ted Talk by Mel Robbins

https://www.ted.com/talks/mel_robbins_how_to_stop_screwing_yourself_over?language=en

Just 5-4-3-2-1-GO ! and let more productivity flow ! 

When Prioritisation defines Productivity (Part 2)- Pareto Principle

We are living in times of big paradox, where the thing that's limited with us is the one that's demanded most. Plenty and Limited, seems to be co-existing together. All around us, we are faced with a  problem of plenty, whether about the choices we are expected to make or the information we need. There's just so much that gets bombarded at us, aimed at grabbing a part of our most precious commodity, i.e., "time", by way our attention and focus. 

Amidst this demand-supply conundrum (where supply of time for everything that demands it is restricted), try to answer the following for you and note down the answers (for later reference) : 

• Which are those goals that will help me achieve success ?
• Which are those habits that will make me productive ?
• Which are those relationships that make me feel satisfied ?
• What are those things that make me happy ?
• Which are those friends that i can rely on always ?
• On a typical day, what are those activities that consume my time ?
• On what times, do i spend my maximum money on ?

The context for the above questions could permeate into professional sphere also. Let's look at few of the other possible scenarios 

If you are a start-up entrepreneur , you may ask yourself 

• What activities take up my maximum time ?
• Which expenses/ type of expenses consume the maximum funds from the allotted budget ?
• Which ideas will contribute most to the objective of the start-up ?   
• Which market will give the maximum response ?
• Which funders will support the long-term sustainability of the project/ idea ?
• .....  

If you work from home, you may 

• Which are my most productive hours ?
• Which activities occupy my non-work hours ?
• ......

If you are a working professional, you may ask yourself 

• From among the various tasks that i perform daily/ regularly, which ones map to my job description ?
• Which of my team members give the maximum output (are most efficient) ?
• Which customers give me the most business ?
• ........

(The above exercise could go on for other spheres/ roles of our life but i have restricted myself to these many scenarios only for want of space and time and to move further with the topic)

This list that you created in response to the above activity could turn out to be a "Time Saviour" for you, provided you know how to "prioritise" the items in the list. And why is Prioritisation so important ?  - For the simple reason, that we only have limited/ fixed "time" at our disposal and we better know where/ on what to use it !  

Let me now introduce a simple, effective and popular tool that could help you prioritise and guide us about where to focus our efforts on. From among the myriad activities/ tasks that we do, we could be more productive if we try and focus on the ones that have the maximum impact on us and can give us maximum output for our effort. This is exactly what this wonderful tool/ technique/ principle does for us and this tool is known as "80/20 Rule" or "Pareto Principle". Lets start knowing more about this tool/ technique/ principle

What is Pareto Principle/ 80-20 Rule ?

It is a simple time management tool which states that "80 % results come from 20% actions". 

The above connotes

• majority of the effects in our life comes from minority of the causes
• biggest results in our lives are generated by few important actions
• focusing on "Vital Few" rather than "Trivial Many" gives us maximum results
• maximum results require minimum, but, focused effort

Who invented the Pareto Principle/ 80-20 Rule ?

The invention of this principle/ rule is attributed to the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who was
born in 1848 and observed the 80/20 principle/ rule in 1896. He observed that the presence of uneven distribution when he noticed that 80% of the peas in his garden came from 20% of his pea plants. Another example is when he observed that 80% of the national income of Italy came from 20% population (businessmen/ industralist).

Joseph M Juran, a Management Consultant and also known as "father" of quality conceptualised the Pareto Principle in 1937. 

Why we need Pareto Principle ?

As shared earlier, since time is a limited commodity, we need to spend it wisely, and focus on items that yield maximum output for us. This principle helps us identify the "priority items" that we should focus upon.

Where to apply/ use Pareto Principle ?

The principle/ rule has applications across our personal and professional spheres. Whether it's about our individual productivity or group/ team productivity, Pareto Principle helps immensely in identifying the right priority/ priorities. Some of the industry/ sector/ departments where we see 80-20 rule/ Pareto Principle in Action are Investment, Customer Service, Business Strategy/ Planning, Team Management, Employee Productivity, Revenue Generation, Negotiation, Sales & Marketing, Software Development, Project Management, Social Media Influencing. 

Unconsciously, we seem to use Pareto Principle in our choices or preferences. Consider your personal group of friends, where you always tend to connect with select view when you need some help/ support/ guidance. Same is the case with our professional circle as well. Now, consider your viewing habits where you tend to prefer watching a select few (20%) streaming services like Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime, etc. to make up for 80% of your viewing experience. Consider the case of apps on your smartphone, where again you use just a "vital few" that comprise a majority (80%) of your app usage on smartphone. If you look around, you will see that the market is laden with multiple brands in just about everything but it's only the 20% brand that comprise the 80% sales to consumers. You pick up any aspect of your life, such as Work, Health, Relationship, Wealth, etc.) and you would find Pareto Principle in action there. (Read Related Article: Wheel of Life )

Here's citing my own example of using Pareto Principle while blogging. While conceptualising this post, 20% of the ideas contributed to about 80% of the content/ structure for this post (for that matter, any blog post).  Isn't that amazing ! 

Steps for applying Pareto Principle 

The steps are simple and as listed below:

• Clearly define the output/ outcome you want/expect 
• Identify the inputs 
• Gauge the impact that each input can create on the output 
• Pick up the top "Vital Few" inputs 
• Take Action on the "Vital Few"

Recommended Reading : The 80/ 20 Principle by Richard Koch  (click to buy)

Additional about Pareto Principle 

The 80:20 ratio is not sacrosanct and it could be 70:30 or 75:25 or in any other similar proportion. The idea being highlighted here is that "Vital Few" gives us Maximum Output. 

Apart from making use of Pareto Principle / 80-20 Rule in our routine activities, it is useful in understanding and altering our habits and behaviour too. Whether we want to identify priorities, learn something new, work with limited time availability, Pareto Principle/ 80-20 Rule is the one to go to ! 

N.B. - The images used in this post/ article have been sourced from the internet. 

The post also contains some affiliate links and i may earn some commission for my endorsement, testimonial, and/ or link to any product or service from this post  

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter's #MyFriendAlexa

When Prioritisation defines Productivity (Part 1)- Eisenhower Matrix

Here's a scenario - "Of  late, Narinder has been feeling quite dissatisfied with himself because he has been very unproductive and as a result feeling very stressed out. Every day he starts with hope and anticipation of achieving a lot (through completing tasks) to make the day count but ends the day completely drained out (mentally and physically), frustrated, feeling incomplete and disappointed with self. The situation has started impacting him adversely and he decides to do something about it. He does a quick run through of his daily routine and gathers this insight that his approach of "dealing with things as they come along" is not giving him the desired results. Though he has been giving his best, in terms to time and effort, to every task during the day but somehow there are things still left undone and the output and results do not commensurate with his effort (let's restrict to the "time" dimension only). Unable to figure it out for himself, Narinder seeks advice from one of his good friends (who has been quite an achiever and a highly productive person) to discuss about what's wrong with his approach. Upon hearing Narinder's saga, his friend asked him just one simple question - "How do you plan your day ?" . Narinder responded by showing him one of his "to-do" lists, to which the friend responded with another question which was "How do you ensure (from this list) that you are putting your energy/ time/ effort on the right thing/ task at the right time ?". Narinder was clueless about the answer and was left wondering about the answer !"

Now, it's time for a reality check - Isn't it the case with so many of us where we fail/ struggle to be productive inspite of identifying the tasks/ activities we need to do in the day ? We try extremely hard to make it happen by way of multitasking, becoming workaholic, and other means but productivity still evades us for the simple reason that "priority is missing in our approach". The moment we get sure of what needs to be done before others is when we will start doing justice to our time and effort.

In this post i am going to cover a very popular tool/ technique on Prioritisation, known as EISENHOWER MATRIX.

Definition & Background

Eisenhower Matrix aka Urgent-Important Matrix aka Time Management Matrix is a very effective model/ tool/ technique that helps us identify the tasks/ activities to focus upon to improve our productivity.

The matrix was the brainchild of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of United States from 1953 to 1961. He also served as a General in the U.S. Army. The invention of the Matrix was borne out of his need to help him identify which tasks he should focus on each day.

In my opinion, the Matrix became more popular because of Stephen Covey's bestseller book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". At least, that's where i got introduced to this model/ technique/ tool. In the book it is known as "Time Management Matrix" or "Urgent-Important Matrix". 

Urgent vs Important is the basis of Eisenhower Matrix. The Matrix comprises of 4 quadrants. Each quadrant in the matrix typifies (represents) a position on the Urgent-Important Axis and related to each position an action is assigned. The four actions are Do First, Schedule, Delegate, Don't Do.

Let's look at the Eisenhower Matrix in detail

Source : eisenhower.me

Source : Internet

The Matrix has 4 quadrants drawn against the Urgent and Important axis. The key quadrants to focus upon are quadrants 1 (Important and Urgent, Do First ) and 2 (Important and Not Urgent, Schedule). There are 2 perspectives to this Matrix and they are

• For Action : Target quadrant 1 when immediate action is to taken on the items/ tasks/ activity

• For Planning : Target quadrant 2 when organising is of concern. Effectively managing quadrant 2 is the hallmark of a productive person.    

The key objective of the Matrix is to ensure spending maximum time in Quadrant 2. We, usually, start operating the Matrix with the short-term strategy of addressing the Quadrant 1 items so as to avoid reaching a catastrophic state. Remember, always operating in Quadrant 1 is not the objective of the matrix.

Understanding the difference between Urgent and Important

The key to effectively use the Matrix is to understand the difference between Urgent and Important

The URGENT tasks are the ones which have an "immediate" or "now" written against them. They are triggered by external factors and serve only a short-term objective. They are like a "necessary evil" and they need to be addressed at the earliest. For example, a medical emergency or a deadline-driven project. Urgent tasks results in stress and burnout.

The IMPORTANT tasks are the ones which have a direct impact on our life and job. They are long-term in nature. They directly relate to our goals in life and are crucial for our success. For example, Exercising or planning a career change. Important tasks results in balance and control.

Steps for using the Matrix 

• List down all the tasks that need to be addressed

• Map these tasks against the various quadrants  

• Finish off the tasks that need to done on the same day

• Follow the actions related to each of the quadrant 

• Quadrant 1 - DO IT
• Quadrant 2 - PLAN NOW
• Quadrant 3 - DELEGATE
• Quadrant 4 - DON'T DO

• Focus on enlarging the Quadrant 2 for a better control over things and life. An ideal Matrix should look like as shown in the diagram below, where Quadrant 2 is the biggest, which means focus is on items that matter a lot to our goals, jobs in life, followed by Quadrant 1, which is smaller in size (compared to Q2 ) implying less crisis driven tasks, followed by a very small Quadrant 3 and a blank Quadrant 4.

Tips on using Eisenhower Matrix  (sourced from the website eisenhower.me )

• Transfer "to-do" list on paper/ electronically frees the mind. Here, you may refer to the Brain Dump or Mind Map technique
• Restrict to writing 8 tasks per quadrant

• Maintain a consolidated list for both personal and professional tasks

• Do not let other define your priority

• Don't procrastinate

Related Articles 

• Brain Dump - Declogging a Cluttered Mind

• Mind Map - The Magic of Visual Thinking

Reference Resources

Recommended Reading : The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People 

Eisenhower / Eisenhower Matrix :    https://www.eisenhower.me/

Video Explaining Eisenhower Matrix : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suGXZ1869qc

Free Download of Eisenhower Template : https://www.eisenhower.me/eisenhower-matrix-canvas/

N.B. - The images used in this post/ article have been sourced from the internet. 

The post also contains some affiliate links and i may earn some commission for my endorsement, testimonial, and/ or link to any product or service from this post  

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