The Ultimate Key to Productivity that Most People Don’t Know
What you think about productivity is (likely) wrong.
In fact, it is not about working without breaks or producing content in an efficient pace. Yes, productivity requires consistent output — but above anything else, it requires the quality use of time. Thus, being productive is not about maximizing or minimizing the time you spend on a task.
Instead, it is about the things you do with the time you have.
Credit where credit is due, I learned the following content from Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but the concept might be traced back to Dwight D. Eisenhower’s ideas too.
The key to productivity lies within the Eisenhower Matrix, which frames tasks as belonging to one of four categories — or Quadrants — based on the following two dimensions:
- URGENCY: How time-constrained the task is in terms of demands. Usually externally contingent.
- IMPORTANCE: How connected the task is to your values and goals. Usually internally contingent.
The better you adapt to this framework, the more productive you will be. This is because your tasks vary in terms of their Urgency (or non-Urgency) and Importance (or non-Importance), and therefore, they differ in terms of which of the four Quadrants they belong to.
And selecting the right — and avoiding the wrong — Quadrant is key.
What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Quadrant I: Urgent and Important
These tasks are emergencies.
Some Urgent tasks are very Important:
· Dealing with crises
· Helping someone in need
But most Important tasks that are Urgent, become Urgent because they have been pushed to their deadline:
· Doing work last minute
· Submitting your paper last minute
· Paying your bills on the final day
Productive people avoid intentionally making Important work Urgent. Pressing problems create stress, and only effective planning and scheduling can prevent these issues from worsening and compounding over time.
Productivity lies in what Important, and rarely in what is Urgent.
Quadrant II: Non-Urgent and Important
These tasks are aspirations.
Productivity expert Stephen Covey claims that purely Important tasks relate to your values and goals in life. These activities have no due date. You only have your inner drive and consistent choice to push yourself forward.
Important, non-Urgent tasks include:
· Learning and growing
· Following routines and habits
· Working on your ambitions or goals
· Doing meaningful hobbies or passions
· Developing and maintaining your relationships
· Taking care of your mental and physical health
Productive people never wait for the Important to become Urgent, because without their own decisions to follow through, these dreams might never come to be. Instead of putting out fires, then, they make sure that the flames never catch to begin with.
Important, non-Urgent tasks are timelessly important on their own merit.
Quadrant III — Urgent and Non-Important
These tasks are interruptions.
Even so, most people spend most of their time in this Quadrant. They adhere to external pressures without listening to their inner values. Thus, nowadays, the world seems more interested in trends, instant gratification, and always being updated, than it does in the slow, steady pace of Important work.
Urgent, non-Important tasks include:
· Procrastinating
· Scrolling through social media
· Attending and answering notifications
· Keeping up with trends and news
You cannot escape unimportant Urgencies. But if you want to be productive, you can choose to dedicate a specific time of day to do it. Keeping track with every Urgent task when they come stops you from making any progress with the Important aspects of your life.
Some things that are Urgent can wait.
Quadrant IV — Non-Urgent and Non-Important
These tasks are time-wasters.
At least in terms of productivity. They feed your need for entertainment and help you tune out from the world. They have no other purpose than to satisfy your immediate impulses — but never your long-term desires.
Tasks that are neither Urgent nor Important include:
· Checking your e-mail
· Doing meaningless work or hobbies
· Consuming entertaining media
Of course, such tasks are fine in moderation. But mindless fun has its place outside of productivity, not within.
Therefore, in this sense, they serve no real purpose.
The Key to Productivity
No, it is not balance.
The false solution would be to dedicate 25 % of our time to each one of the Quadrants. That would be unproductive — because then we would focus on time instead of content. Besides, the four Quadrants are not even worth the same.
The key to productivity lies in prioritizing tasks within Quadrant II over those in any other Quadrant.
It is this that leads to the fulfillment of your innermost values and desires.
It is this that leads to long-term success compounded over time.
It is this that leads to true productivity.
