Today we will talk about Covey’s Four Quadrants, which says that the things we do in life can be organized into 4 quadrants:
When I first encountered this, about 20 years ago, it was exactly what I needed. I was living almost exclusively in Quadrants 1 and 3, and felt stretched to the limit. Oh I was “doing okay” (meaning I was surviving). But, I did not feel any sense of peace and contentment at all. And, frankly, I had begun to feel like I was not in control of my life. I had not formally come to that conclusion, but there was a sense of it swimming around in my mind.
But after reading Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Making the move to living out of Quadrant 2 is one of the most valuable things I have ever done. And, it really was not hard:
- I wrote down all the Quadrant 1 and 3 activities I was routinely engaged in
- For each of these, I asked “what can I do to prevent this activity from reoccurring or from it having such an urgency?”
- Asking this question helped me identify Quadrant 2 activities I should be doing. Once I identified them, I began scheduling time to implement them.
- For each Q2 activity I scheduled, I stuck with the schedule. I treated each one just like a real appointment that I had to keep.
It did not take long before I was thinking in Q2, defining new activities that could prevent additional crises that could easily have happened had I not “awakened.”
In fact, I found Covey’s entire book to be helpful, and consider it to be one of the most valuable books I have ever read. A lot of people do not like it because they think it is “preachy.” I really did not look at it that way, though, perhaps because I needed some “preaching”.
I needed someone to tell me how stupid it is to climb the ladder of success only to find it is leaning against the wrong wall. I needed to be reminded that my family matters far more than my work. Oh of course I would have told you they did, but I was not spending the time with them I should have been spending. I was focusing on “earning the bacon,” thinking that doing so was the way I could help my family.
Covey woke me up, and that is why, even today, I appreciate the Covey philosophies more than I do the Getting Things Done philosophies. Actually I have found that I can integrate the two systems and get the best from both. I encourage you to see if you can do this, too.
Finally, you may be interested in knowing why I decided it was time to review Covey’s 4 Quadrants: I personally needed the review, and thought that some of you may also benefit from it. I have been retired almost a year now, and had drifted away from using the 4 Quadrants. Consequently, I have been drifting toward dwelling in Quadrant 4, of all despicable “places” to dwell. It is incredibly easy for a retired person to do this, and I am working on getting myself back into Q2.
By the way, feel free to download the above picture so you can print it out for reference.
Thanks twmiller!
Believe it or not, I have never read Who Moved My Cheese … it was only recently that I read Tuesdays With Morrie. Sounds like it’s time for me to pay another visit to Barnes & Noble.
BTW, just got a membership renewal notice from them, and it said I had saved $92 in 2007 with them … guess that means I spent upwards of $1,000 with them this year. So, I am trying to slow down on my reading, because that is too much for a retired old man to spend on books (and it doesn’t count my Amazon purchases). But Who Moved My Cheese is a classic and I should read it.
Bruce –
Thank you for the reminder/review. Sometimes we need to review the basics, especially when there are drastic changes in our personal life. That reminds me, I should re-read ‘Who moved my cheese’
Don’t read “Who Moved My Cheese”! It is really bad. I definitly don’t think it is a classic, and if it is, I hope not for long.
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wew, good post.i’ve just learnt it yesterday. and i am changing my bad habit..!!
Bravoo…!!!
let’s be the agen of change to the world.
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HEhe…thanks for sharing this information, I also think that the 7 habits of highly Effective people, book was great and changed my life in a very positive way.
Thanks for the chart!
Hi Bruce
I was searching for some information on the 4 quadrant approach related to motivation, when I came across your post. I’d forgotten where exactly in Steven Covey’s Books his grid was so now I know it’s in Chapter 2 of ’7 habits’. Looking at the grid again reminded me of how I’ve slipped back into “busy work” recently. I’m off to get that sorted right now!
I’m trying to use the 4 quadrants and mission/roles/compass from covey and integrate that with lists from GTD. But the thig is how to have a single automatic visualization of what I have in each quadrant. I have the list os actions for each role/project task list and I have the action list would like to have an automatic view of this. I’m using outlook and onenote. But it isn’t easy a thing to do.
@halex,
Not real clear to me what you are trying to accomplish. I haven’t used Outlook in a long while, since switching to a Mac, but I recall that you can assign as many categories to an item (task, appointment, contact) as desired, so you might try creating categories for each quadrant and each context (the latter for gtd). Then, when you view tasks you can choose to view by category, which might be what you’re after.
Answered firm my iPad
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Thanks! Was just explaining concept to a staff member and was looking for a quick reference on subject–and here it is!
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Thanks for sharing and the great review. I consider Stephen Covey a great mentor for me. I was wondering what additional systems and tools you have implemented in your life to live the Principles brother Covey has taught so well. I notice you use Macs and iPad, as do I. How have you used technology in your life to help focus on what matters most and experience inner peace?
Hi Angel,
Thank you for the comment.
Just about any productivity tool can be set up in a way to help live more by Covey’s principles. For example, Evernote can be set up with one notebook for each of your Covey “roles.” You can organize OmniFocus and Things in a similar way. You might want to click on the “Productivity” link on the sidebar to check for other ideas.
Take care
Bruce
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