(by Amber Dembowski)
You’ve reached the end of the school year and you feel a huge relief.
Once you’ve had some time to decompress you begin to reflect on the year and realize you didn’t accomplish everything you wanted to. (Deep sigh.)
But stop there. Because, in the end, you did accomplish a lot. Not everything. But a lot. A buttload actually.
I see you …
You worked your ass off. You were busy and productive every day. There wasn’t an ounce of time left in the day to squeeze in any more. You did your best. You know that. I know that. Everyone knows that. You should feel proud. Savor in it.
And as you’re reflecting, giving yourself grace, you can also be gently planning for next year (so that you CAN accomplish everything you want), thinking through a system to increase your productivity. Making your best self better.
When I get home from work Rex always unloads his day, telling me the details about any frustrations and accomplishments. And then he’ll turn to me and ask how my day was. I never know how to capture it all, so my response is always the generic shoulder shrug with, “It was good.”
It’s not that I don’t enjoy talking with my husband. I do. “It was good,” is the answer I would give anyone who asks. I honestly have a hard time remembering what’s all crammed into each day. Sometimes the days are so busy I truly don’t want to relive them. But, I also recognize the importance of auditing my time, so at one point I tried to quantify one of my days. It was nearly impossible:
I had conversations with 7 parents on the phone and 3 parents in person. I planned with 2 different PTA members and held 2 critical conversations with 2 different staff members. I met with 7 students in my office at 7 separate times. I visited 4 classrooms during instruction and welcomed 8 guest teachers. I consoled 2 staff members, spoke with several others on the fly, helped provide coverage for 1 teacher, removed 3 students for disruptive behavior, and sat down for some planning discussions with 2 teachers at 2 different times. I tutored 1 student struggling with his math and spoke with another student about her feelings of overwhelm-ment. I helped supervise 46 students outside for recess and later consoled 1 crying parent. I scheduled 8 meetings and responded to countless emails and texts. I coaxed 1 student onto the bus and ended my day with 3 more parent phone calls. When it was all said and done I had 1 drink with friends and followed that up with 1 dinner date with my husband. I’m sure I’m leaving some other minor details of the day out of my reflection -- but the point is, it was a busy day. And I loved it.
I love the feeling of being busy. And even more than that I love the feeling of being productive.
But as I was reflecting on this Friday that I tried to capture, I began to wonder if the productive busy-ness aligned with what I want to be productive doing. Or maybe a better question – Am I being more productive in certain areas of my life and neglecting other areas? I can answer this without having to think too long about it, because I know that I am. So, I’d like to ask you the same question. Are you neglecting certain areas in your life?
Hold that thought. First, let’s dive deeper into how to audit your time.
When I think about being productive and prioritizing my time, I often refer to Steven Covey’s time management matrix. Covey’s system makes use of four different quadrants that allow you to prioritize tasks in relation to their importance and urgency, helping you to decide whether you need to address a task immediately or if you can postpone it. Once you master it, you’ll reap the benefits of high productivity.
Quadrant 1: Urgent-Important. These are the most pressing of tasks you'll likely get to this week. These are the crises that erupt or the deadlines that you are presented with. It’s attending to upset parents and challenging behaviors. Completing or reviewing report cards. Submitting reports and final evaluations. When these tasks get completed you feel more productive.
Quadrant 2: Not Urgent - Important. These are the things that matter in the long-term but will yield no tangible benefits this week or even this year. They are things you know you need to get to but probably will push off. It's taking care of yourself. Relationship-building. Intentional planning. Dedicating time to a coach or mentor. These tasks don’t always feel productive, but they are deliberately moving you in the right direction.
Quadrant 3: Urgent - Not Important. These tasks are the biggest reason you're not more successful and productive in the long-term. They clog up your time today, and when you look back at these things at the end of the week, you'll have to admit they were a waste of time. These are the activities you tell yourself, in the moment, that you must do, BUT if you stopped to really think about it, you'd realize they aren't that important. It’s engaging in gossip and complaining with colleagues, all disguised as important dialogue. It’s processing through a tough decision with the fifth person for the day, yet never pulling the trigger to get things done. Not productive.
Quadrant 4: Not Urgent - Not Important. These things you do because you feel tired and need a break. It's watching a mindless TV show at the end of the day. It's checking and rechecking Facebook and Instagram during the day. It might be mindlessly eating potato chips, even though you're not hungry. You prioritize these things in the moment and obviously derive some pleasure from them, but they are really not urgent or important. Yet, you'd be amazed how much time you waste in a given week on these tasks. Again, sometimes needed, but not productive.
I’ve always found Covey’s matrix helpful to me as I work to prioritize my time and audit my day of productivity. And at first glance, when reflecting on my day, it seems most items would fall within Quandrant 1 & 2, which is where Covey suggests we spend most of our time.
But when I drill down a little further, it becomes apparent that I’m missing the boat.
In order for Covey’s matrix to be truly effective you have to know what your holy grails are. What do you want to get better at? How do you want to change? What’s important to you? For me, it’s Impact, Family & Home, and Autonomy/Creativity.
What’s your holy grail? It could be marriage, health, teaching, leading. You decide. Pick 3. What 3 things do you want to continue to grow?
Now, let’s dig back into my reflection from my busy day, this time considering my 3 goals. Most of the tasks that filled my day could potentially be described as increasing my impact, but very few supported my goal of family, and nothing I did tapped into my autonomy/creativity. Now that I know this, I recognize I need to be more intentional and restructure my time to align with all 3 priorities.
Could this activity help you organize your time in relation to your goals?
Take 15 minutes to write down your three holy grails for a better, more productive, life. Then map out what you’ll do everyday to move forward, to grow and get better, to increase that part of your life. Try to do this on a weekly basis. Every Sunday night, or Monday morning, map out your week with your calendar or to-do lists, ensuring that you are dedicating time and tasks to the 3 areas you identified to help you be your best person yet!
When things enter your life that don’t align with any of your 3, then you know that they can be tabled for later or maybe delegated out to others -- because those tasks will only take your energy away from what is important.
There are parts of your life that are tired of getting neglected. We need to decide what is important and ruthlessly (or gently) minimize or eliminate everything else.
In the words of Seth Godin, “We don't need more time, we just need to decide.”
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