I began this book about four months ago, found it engaging but somewhat depressing (I concluded I probably wasn't as effective as I'd thought) and promptly shelved it.
A couple of weeks ago I picked it up again and moved on to the 2nd and 3rd habits, and decided to give some of the ideas in the book a proper go.
I'm not going to attempt to describe the content of the 7 Habits. Happily, for once it's not a book that can be reduced to a single idea, or to a summary paragraph. Let's just say that it's well worth reading. It isn't simply a business book - there is a lot in there that's useful for personal relationships and parenting as well. It's profound and affecting. Just trust me and buy it...
The second and third habits are about prioritisation and time management. Two things I thought I was pretty good at, until I realised how much time I was spending dealing with my constantly re-filling inbox, rather than doing the work I wanted and needed to do. It turns out that 'inbox zero' is a pretty dumb way of prioritising your daily tasks.
One of Covey's ideas is that, in order to best prioritise (in both business and personal matters) you need to first really think about what matters to you, articulate that in a kind of manifesto, then use that to set long and short term goals, which then form the basis for your weekly task setting. He also uses the popular Eisenhower Matrix to help with prioritisation. I'd heard of this but never used it before.
It turns out that I was spending most of my time in Quadrant 1 (urgent and important) fighting everyday fires, and in Quadrant 4 (not urgent and not important) trying to get some respite from Quadrant 1 activities. According to Covey we should all be spending most of our time in Quadrant 2 (not urgent but important), doing the kinds of tasks that we all put off, but which would help us, for example, build up our businesses of strengthen our relationships with our children.
So last week I spent a good chunk of time, spread out over several days, thinking about what really mattered to me in life, hammering this out into a personal manifesto and a set of long-term goals. This was a strange and discomfiting experience. It felt very 'American' and 'UnBritish', but I persevered and found it quite rewarding in the end. I can't say I managed to do what Covey suggested and visualise the eulogies at my own funeral, but I did think about what I'd like people to say about me if I wasn't around, and that did help me to think about what mattered to me in life.
I then created a set of goals for the coming week, which were based on the principles in my manifesto. This was the real revelation. In an average week I'd set goals based on what was at the forefront of my mind at the time, or what I felt compelled to do because of my clients' priorities. Any personal or professional development goals were relegated to the weekend or some imaginary 'quiet time' in the future. Now suddenly I was setting goals based on what I wanted to achieve for myself and my family. So, for example, goals for this past week included 'talk to [stepson] about his choice of sixth form colleges', 'write a blog post about X', 'set up meetings with X and Y to discuss future priorities'. Now these would normally be tasks I'd never consider scheduling at the start of the week. They'd be things I might do as they occurred to me, or if I had time: not things I'd prioritise because none of them were in Quadrant 1.
And the result: I've spent the week engaged almost entirely in Quadrant 2 activities. I've still dealt with the Quadrant 1 activities, but they have seemed to almost deal with themselves. I've devoted an hour at the end of each day to clear the inbox, rather than dealing with things as they arrive. I've also spent some time in Quadrant 4, but much less than usual, and only when I was killing time at lunch or on the train. Instead of feeling exhausted at the end of each day I've felt invigorated, and strange things have happened. A long term goal that I'd set for spring next year is close to being met already. I'm not sure if this is a coincidence or a direct result of my experiment, but I don't think it's entirely unconnected. I've made significant progress in all of the major projects I'm engaged in, and have had some difficult conversations which I've been putting off. I've also achieved significant insights into my professional life, as a direct result of focusing on the future rather than the present.
Primarily, I feel more powerful and in control of my agenda. I feel a great deal more confident that I can affect positive change for my clients and with my personal projects. All this in just one week!
It's Sunday now, and although I've spent most of the weekend relaxing and doing unscheduled tasks, I've also hung out in Quadrant 2 and made significant progress with various important things. I've also set my goals for Week 2, and am looking forward to my 6.30am start tomorrow instead of begrudging it.
Bring on Week 2!
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