The 4 D's of Time Management

 As a leader, you have unlimited demands on your limited time. Everyone wants something from you and they want it NOW! Trying to do everything NOW and please everyone is a sure-fire recipe for a nervous breakdown.

That's where the 4 D's method of time management comes in handy. The 4 D method was famously used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and popularized by author Stephen Covey. This method forces you to consistently focus on important and urgent tasks. I wrote about this previously in The Eisenhower Box.

The 4 D's are:

  • Do it.
  • Defer it.
  • Delegate it.
  • Delete it.

Do it.

These are tasks that are urgent AND important. 

These are tasks that YOU have to do - and do immediately. Your top customer, responsible for 20% of your firm's revenue, has called and said they're going with another vendor. If you don't "fix" this, say goodbye to your nice bonus and prepare to explain to the company president what happened!

Everything in your life comes to a stop. This needs to be fixed NOW.

Defer it.

These are important tasks but not urgent. 

These are tasks that you can schedule to do later. Your boss wants your employee reviews of your team by the end of the quarter. They're important - and you need to do them - but you still have over a month. Create a calendar reminder and move on.

Delegate it.

These are urgent tasks but not overly important. 

AND, they're not necessarily tasks that YOU have to do. You can delegate these tasks to someone else. Perhaps your boss wants a status update on all of the projects in your department. Since it's the boss, yes, it's important (don't ALL bosses think every thought they have should be your priority #1?) but it's not something that YOU necessarily have to do yourself. This is something you can delegate to an assistant or a team member. Delegate it and move on.

Delete it.

These are tasks that are neither urgent NOR important. Given all the other competing demands on your time, why would you even consider spending a second on them? Delete them and move on with your day!

There you have it. Four simple categories to help get your life back. I hope they work for you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Leadership Lessons From Hal Moore

This week's leadership lesson is inspired by the move, " We Were Soldiers ", starring Mel Gibson. The movie is based on a real life battle during the Viet Nam War. Mel played Lt. Col. Hal Moore, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 7th Calvary. On November 14, 1965, Lt. Col. Moore, and 450 of his men, were dropped by helicopter into the la Drang valley. They were immediately surrounded by around 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Thus began the first full-fledged battle between U.S. and North Vietnamese soldiers. Over the next two days U.S. soldiers were killed but they inflicted around 1,200 casualties and forced the Communist forces to withdraw. The movie, and the battle on which it was based teaches us 10 leadership lessons:(You can read General Moore’s  book .) Be head strong. when the setbacks come (and they will), a leader picks themselves up and keeps moving forward. There's always a way. Either you find one, or you make one. If you think you might fail in a giv
Read more

The Golden Circle

Today's tip is very short - just a link really. Simon Sinek is a British-American author, motivational speaker, and organizational consultant. You can find many of his talks on YouTube but I want to direct you to his TED Talk that, in my opinion, "launched" him. It's called "How great leaders inspire action" and he introduces the concept of the "Golden Circle". The talk is less than 20-minutes long and I think you'll find it eye-opening. You can find it  here .
Read more

Coaching people in difficult times

This post comes from Marcia Reynolds, author of, “ Coach the Person, Not the Problem ”. As leaders, we know how difficult it can be to lead people through difficult times, through times of radical change. As Ms. Reynolds says,  “ Emotions shape our reality more than facts and trend charts. The less we know for sure, the more we imagine the worse and believe it exists. ” When people’s worlds are being turned upside down, it’s hard for them to eliminate fear and focus on facts. It’s difficult to get them to focus on solutions and moving forward. These four practices though can help tremendously: Listen to their story  - This isn’t about you, it’s about THEM. So be patient, don’t judge, and accept their perspective as how THEY see the world right now. They need to feel heard and valued before they’re anywhere NEAR ready to examine their feelings and beliefs with you. Play back what you hear and notice  - Repeat back to them, in your own words, what you heard them say to make s
Read more