{"id":1733,"date":"2014-04-03T07:44:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T20:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1733"},"modified":"2014-04-20T07:52:14","modified_gmt":"2014-04-19T21:52:14","slug":"the-eisenhower-matrix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1733","title":{"rendered":"The Eisenhower Matrix"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">Bang on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">http:\/\/time.com\/46738\/supreme-court-mccutcheon-campaign-finance-law\/<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/eisenhower-matrix.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1734\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/eisenhower-matrix.jpg\" alt=\"eisenhower-matrix\" width=\"560\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/eisenhower-matrix.jpg 560w, https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/eisenhower-matrix-300x195.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<article id=\"article-43808\" data-article=\"43808\">\n<header>\n<h1>How to Achieve Work-Life Balance in 5 Steps<\/h1>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/author\/eric-barker\/\">Eric Barker<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><time datetime=\"2014-04-02 00:01:39\">12:01 AM ET<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<section>\n<aside data-name=\"rr-taboola-video\">\n<div id=\"taboola-right-rail-organic-video-43808\" data-mode=\"verticalx3\" data-placement=\"right-rail-organic\" data-type=\"video\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Achieving\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakadesuyo.com\/2013\/11\/making-the-most-out-of-life\/\">work-life balance<\/a>\u00a0can look impossible. And, frankly, it seems like it\u2019s getting\u00a0harder.<\/p>\n<aside data-name=\"rr-partner\">\n<div>\n<h6>MORE<\/h6>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/44168\/how-to-be-funny-the-six-essential-ingredients-to-humor\/\" data-event=\"rr-more\">How To Be Funny: The Six Essential Ingredients To Humor<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/42228\/are-mondays-really-that-bad\/\" data-event=\"rr-more\">Are Mondays Really That Bad?<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2014\/03\/19\/ancient-rock-formation-glenn-taylor-david-hall_n_4988811.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-event=\"rr-partner\">Men Charged With Toppling Ancient Rock Formation Avoid Jail Time\u00a0Huffington Post<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2014\/01\/03\/marijuana-overdose_n_4538580.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-event=\"rr-partner\">Here&#8217;s An Updated Tally Of All The People Who Have Ever Died From A Marijuana Overdose\u00a0Huffington Post<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.people.com\/~r\/people\/headlines\/~3\/lVgeYN45CXY\/0,,20802636,00.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-event=\"rr-partner\">Colin Egglesfield Arrested for Disorderly Conduct, Criminal Damage\u00a0People<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><b>In the ten years from 1986 to 1996 work-life balance was mentioned in the media 32 times.<\/b><\/p>\n<aside data-name=\"rr-mag\">\n<div>\n<h6>POPULAR AMONG SUBSCRIBERS<\/h6>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/39865\/the-last-days-of-culture-mad-men\/?pcd=pw-pas\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/timedotcom.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/03\/time-mad-men-cover.jpg?w=560\" alt=\"TIME Magazine Cover, April 7, 2014\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Mad Men\u2019s Conquest of Cool<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/subscription.time.com\/storefront\/subscribe-to-time\/link\/1019509.html\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>The Virtual Genius of Oculus Rift<\/h3>\n<h3>The Mindful Revolution<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><b>In 2007 alone it was mentioned 1674 times.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Via\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00C1BHQXK\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00C1BHQXK&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=spacforrent-20\">The ONE Thing<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>A LexisNexis survey of the top 100 newspapers and magazines around the world shows a dramatic rise in the number of articles on the topic, from 32 in the decade from 1986 to 1996 to a high of 1674 articles in 2007 alone.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Onion jokingly implies that the only way to achieve effective work\/life balance is to not have a job:<\/p>\n<form id=\"wpcom-iframe-form-475fc07b538f962e2021aa25e70c5c5d-533c750eadb2d\" action=\"http:\/\/wpcomwidgets.com\/\" method=\"post\" target=\"wpcom-iframe-475fc07b538f962e2021aa25e70c5c5d-533c750eadb2d\"><\/form>\n<p><iframe name=\"wpcom-iframe-475fc07b538f962e2021aa25e70c5c5d-533c750eadb2d\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>That\u2019s hysterical \u2014 because it\u2019s not remotely realistic. So what actually works?<\/p>\n<p><b>You Need To Draw A Line<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve posted plenty of research on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakadesuyo.com\/2013\/11\/get-more-done-in-less-time\/\">productivity<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakadesuyo.com\/2013\/09\/time-management-skills\/\">time management<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakadesuyo.com\/2013\/07\/chronic-procrastination\/\">procrastination<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 but that\u2019s not the issue here. Not at all.<\/p>\n<p>Those are hacks that help you be more efficient but in the modern world you are getting 25 hours of to-do\u2019s thrown at you every 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p><b>Thinking that if you spend enough time you will \u201cget everything done\u201d is an illusion. You will never be \u201cdone.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The happiest people\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakadesuyo.com\/2013\/02\/busy-happiness\/\">are not people who don\u2019t have a care in the world<\/a>. Those people are bored.<\/p>\n<p>Research shows the happiest people are\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakadesuyo.com\/2013\/02\/busy-happiness\/\">busy \u2014 but don\u2019t feel rushed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Anxiety is reduced by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakadesuyo.com\/2012\/08\/what-can-you-do-to-eliminates-stress\/\">a feeling of control<\/a>. And what do studies say about work-life balance? Same thing \u2014 a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakadesuyo.com\/2013\/12\/simple-secrets-happy-families\/\">feeling of control is key<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>You have to draw a line. You must decide what is important and what isn\u2019t.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>How do you draw that line? By asking yourself one simple question a few times a day.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cWhat\u2019s The Most Important Thing For You To Do Right Now?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The main problem people have is they try to do it all and treat everything as important.<\/p>\n<p><b>You can\u2019t do it all and everything is not equally important.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>So how do you determine\u00a0<i>the most important thing for you to do right now?<\/i><\/p>\n<h2><b>1) What Are Your Values?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Clay Christensen, Harvard Business School professor and author of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0062102419\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0062102419&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=spacforrent-20\">How Will You Measure Your Life?<\/a>, knows what he values.<\/p>\n<p>Watch from 34:55 to 38:50:<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5DwYcNr0Nuw?version=3&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" width=\"640\" height=\"390\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>He works Monday to Friday. Saturday is for family and Sunday is for God. Period. No work on the weekends. No exceptions. No matter what.<\/p>\n<p>Clay knows what\u2019s important to him, drew a line and probably doesn\u2019t suffer from many work-life balance worries.<\/p>\n<p>Is this effective for everyone at every company? No. But\u00a0<b>you have to start with knowing what matters most to you and drawing a line.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>2) What gets you disproportionate results?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Face it: often you start by doing whatever happens to be in front of you. But proximity does not equal priority.<\/p>\n<p>In his book\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00C1BHQXK\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00C1BHQXK&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=spacforrent-20\">The ONE Thing<\/a>, Gary Keller applies the \u201cPareto principle\u201d to the workday:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Most of us get 80% of results from 20% of the work we do. So focus on that 20%.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><b>What really creates progress vs treading water? What gives disproportionate results? Do that first and most frequently.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>3) What\u2019s the thing only *you* can do well?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>If someone else can do the laundry at home, let them do it. If someone else can do the filing at work, let them do it.<\/p>\n<p>But if you\u2019re the parent, you need to be at the parent-teacher conference and if you\u2019re the sales lead you need to be at the sales meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Via\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0060833459\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0060833459&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=spacforrent-20\">The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>All in all, the effective executive tries to be himself; he does not pretend to be someone else. He looks at his own performance and at his own results and tries to discern a pattern.\u00a0<\/i><b><i>\u201cWhat are the things,\u201d he asks, \u201cthat I seem to be able to do with relative ease, while they come rather hard to other people?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><b>Management guru\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakadesuyo.com\/2013\/03\/insights-management-book\/\"><b>Pete Drucker<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0says focus on the things that only you can do. Delegate, outsource or neglect the rest.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>4) What\u2019s most important\u00a0<i>right now<\/i>?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>You feel good when you check a lot of things off your to-do list. But were they things that are\u00a0<i>most important and urgent<\/i>?That\u2019s\u00a0what matters.<\/p>\n<p>Via\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00C57C392\/?tag=barking-20\">The Decision Book: 50 Models for Strategic Thinking<\/a>:<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/timedotcom.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/03\/eisenhower-matrix.jpg?w=560\" alt=\"\" \/><figcaption>The Decision Book: 50 Models for Strategic Thinking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b>As the\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00C57C392\/?tag=barking-20\"><b>Eisenhower Matrix<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0above reveals, just because something is urgent doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s important.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>And being important doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s urgent.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>And as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0062102419\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0062102419&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=spacforrent-20\">Clay Christensen<\/a>\u00a0points out, it\u2019s all too easy to put off important family time for urgent work deadlines.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve been neglecting your loved ones recently, work might be\u00a0<i>urgent but not important<\/i>\u00a0while family is both\u00a0<i>important<\/i><i>and<\/i><i>\u00a0urgent<\/i>.<\/p>\n<h1><b>Sum Up<\/b><\/h1>\n<p>So how do you deal with work\/life balance? Here are some key ideas:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Everything is not equally important. Do fewer things and do them well.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Decide what your values are \u2014 and which ones take precedence.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Do the things that get disproportionate results.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Focus on the things only you can do.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Do the important things which must be done\u00a0<\/b><b>now<\/b><b>.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>It\u2019s not simple and it won\u2019t be resolved tomorrow but you can get much, much better at this with time.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the most important thing to remember?<\/p>\n<p><b><i>You can do anything once you stop trying to do everything.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bang on. http:\/\/time.com\/46738\/supreme-court-mccutcheon-campaign-finance-law\/ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; How to Achieve Work-Life Balance in 5 Steps Eric Barker 12:01 AM ET Achieving\u00a0work-life balance\u00a0can look impossible. And, frankly, it seems like it\u2019s getting\u00a0harder. MORE How To Be Funny: The Six Essential Ingredients To HumorAre Mondays Really That Bad?Men Charged With Toppling Ancient Rock Formation Avoid Jail Time\u00a0Huffington PostHere&#8217;s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1733\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Eisenhower Matrix<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cool","category-healthy-habits","category-management-and-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1733"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1777,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1733\/revisions\/1777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}