1.5 - About University

NotImportantActivities➌Activities➍• interruptions• some calls, mail, reports, meetings• many (most?) deadline activities• many requests from others• reacting to other peoples’ problems• look busy or comfortable work• much e-mail and paper mail• distractions or trivia• some phone calls, idle chitchat• pleasant or escape activitiesImplications:• distracted from important work• broken promises, goals, accountabilities• feeling victimized and out of control• addiction to action, adrenaline high• shallow and broken relationships• working hard with little to show for youreffortImplications:• blaming busy-ness for not getting theimportant things done• addiction to detail• loss of career and business opportunities• becoming dependent on others or oninstitutions for the basics of life• loss of self-confidence and self-esteemThe heart of effective leadership is focusing on box ➋, important but not urgent activities.Nevertheless, because no one is yelling at the moment or no deadline is pressing, and becausethese activities demand creative thinking and discipline, they are often overlooked or givenonly minimum attention. Yet these are highly leveraged activities. They are the core of leadershipsuccess, and the essence of a successful life.Examine box ➌, urgent but not important, and box ➊, urgent and important. These activitiestend to be visible and rewarding, in the short term. As a result, leaders are caught up inthem, often losing sight of what is important in the long haul. Box ➍, part of all of our lives,speaks for itself.H OW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL“Time management is really a misnomer—the challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves.”—Stephen Covey, THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLEThe key to leadership success is accepting responsibility for your own development, staying ontop of your important and urgent work (thereby ensuring short-term success), while also practicingthe discipline to accomplish meaningful results in the long term (i.e., important but noturgent work).This tool assumes you are already aware of what is important in your career as a leader. Ifyou are not sure, you may wish to use some of the Strategic or Systemic tools listed at the endof this section. Using the template provided, plan a few specific, serious, and powerful changesin how you use your most scarce resource—your time. Alternatively, use this template in coachingothers to look seriously at their own time management practices, and to make a few meaningfulchanges in their thinking, habits, and goals.SECTION 13 TOOLS FOR LEADING PERFORMANCE 407