One of my greatest “mentors from afar” is Dr. Stephen Covey. His work around values, priorities, and principle-based leadership helped create the foundation on which I built my business and, in many ways, in which I live my life. While I never got to meet him in person, his research and writing have influenced me tremendously.
When I saw the Time Matrix in his book First Things First (my favorite of his), I had a huge aha! moment. How often we give our time and attention to the urgent, merely because it screams the loudest; meanwhile the truly important work gets put on the back burner. His matrix serves as a valuable filter for work, leadership, and life.
Lesson #13: Dedicate Time To The Important. Set aside time for your long-term goals, creating strategy, visioning, reflecting, planning. Don’t constantly let what matters most get pushed aside in favor of ‘the squeaky wheel.’ (Fortunately, when we pay attention to the important consistently, we experience fewer squeaky wheels.)
This weekend I had the opportunity to put this lesson into practice once again. Months ago, I had set aside this weekend for a writer’s retreat. The book I’ve been writing is incredibly important to me and to the fulfillment of my purpose, but setting aside an entire weekend to work on it seemed nearly impossible: How do I step away from the urgent needs of the business, my family, and other responsibilities for an entire weekend to focus on the book? Many things – urgent things – were conspiring to keep me from making this retreat a reality.
But I remembered that while my book may not be urgent, it’s important. And if I don’t pay attention, soon it will be urgent, too.
So I made the necessary arrangements, honored the important, and made it happen. This photo depicts where I spent a good portion of the weekend, creating and writing and putting together the details of a book that will hopefully change many lives for the better – like Covey’s did for me. This may sound dramatic, but it was a life- and business-changing weekend!
As Covey wrote, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” How can you prioritize the important this week?
As I celebrate 14 years in business this month, I’m sharing 14 lessons – one per post – that I’ve learned (many the hard way) over the years. I hope they help you work with meaning and live with purpose!