Time can’t be managed—it just is. So time management is really about managing our attention. And that's not and easy thing to do with so many competing needs vying for it all the time. Here's a useful prioritization structure that just might help improve your time management by helping you control what gets your attention.

1. TIME MANAGEMENT OR ATTENTION MANAGEMENT?
Time can’t be managed—it just is.

2. STAYING FOCUSED IS DIFFICULT
Staying focused on the
task at hand is more
difficult than it ever
was, with open work
spaces and an infinite
number of media
sources vying for our
wandering attention.
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3. GOAL-DRIVEN VERSUS INTERRUPT-DRIVEN
Some people are naturally goal-driven and can
more easily stay focused in spite of distractions.
Others are “interrupt driven”, in other
words, their mind gives priority to external
distractions, making it very difficult to stay
focused in today’s “twitterverse”.
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4. STRUCTURE CAN HELP
For those who are easily distracted, it’s important
to put some structure in place to help
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5. WHAT ABOUT CRISIS MANAGEMENT?
And then there are those
who operate in crisis
management mode
all the time!
While emergency may be a
product of their working
reality, potential crisis is
often better handled with a
little forethought and
prevention.
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6. NOT TO MENTION THE “FIRE-FIGHTERS?”
Of course, firefighting can provide a rush. Some
people thrive on being the troubleshooter who
saves the day, but a lot of damage can be done
when things are allowed to get to a critical state.
If you’re always
putting out fires,
something has
already burned!
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7. PREVENT FIRES WITH A STRUCTURED PROCESS
Fire prevention, in the
form of planning and
monitoring, may not be
quite as exciting, but it
minimizes damage and
reduces stress (for
you, and those around
you!).
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8. PROVEN APPROACH
Whatever your style, the Time/Attention
Management Matrix* can help you decide which
activities warrant your attention and resources:
*popularized by Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
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9. DEFINITIONS
Urgent = in your face, vying for your immediate
attention.
Important = Critical to the success of your role.
Essential to the business or organization.
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10. KNOWING WHICH IS WHICH COUNTS
The judgment as to whether activities are
urgent, important, both or neither, is crucial for
good time/attention management.
People who lack experience or are not good at
managing their time, attention, or their
environment, spend most of their time in
quadrants 1 and 3: responding to urgency.
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11. MANAGEMENT BY SQUEAKY WHEEL
Poor time managers typically prioritize tasks
according to who shouted last and loudest.
Often, loudness correlates to seniority, which can
discourage questioning.
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12. Spare time is often spent in quadrant 4 on aimless
and non-productive activities.
Most people spend the
least amount of time in
quadrant 2: the most critical
area for success, development and
proactive self-determination.
BUSY WORK MEANS MISSED OPPORTUNITY
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13. WHAT TO DO?
What to do?
1. Consider the many circumstances, activities
and demands that vie for your time and
attention during a typical workday.
2. Fit them into the appropriate quadrant.
3. Then act on them (or not!) as appropriate.
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14. Q1: URGENT AND IMPORTANT – DO NOW
Vying for immediate attention and critical to
your success and/or that of the organization:
• Real major emergencies and crises
• Significant demands for information from
superiors or customers
• Project work with imminent deadlines
• Problem or crisis resolution
• Previously planned activities from Q2 that are
now due
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15. DEALING WITH QUADRANT 1
Tactics for handling quadrant 1 activities include:
• Confirm importance/urgency, then do these now.
• Prioritize according to relative urgency.
• Discuss actual requirements and deadlines with
originators and/or those dependent on outcomes
to sort competing tasks.
• Help originators re-assess urgency/priority.
• Move planned activities from Q2 to Q1 on time.
• Break tasks into stages: e.g. acknowledge with
commitment to complete at a later date.
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16. Q2: NOT URGENT, BUT IMPORTANT - PLAN TO DO
Not “in-your face” but critical to your success
and/or that of your organization. Often the most
neglected activities:
• Project planning and scheduling
• Research and investigation
• Networking and relationship building
• Strategic thinking, setting direction
• Designing, creating and testing
• Systems and process development
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17. DEALING WITH QUADRANT 2
Tactics for handling quadrant 2 activities include:
• Plan time-slots for doing these tasks and stick to
them.
• Work from home or elsewhere if necessary to
avoid interruption.
• Break big tasks into logical stages – block off
time for each stage.
• Use project management tools and methods.
• Inform people of your “off-limits” time.
• Protect these vital scheduled activities against
encroachment.
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18. Q3: URGENT, BUT NOT IMPORTANT – REJECTDIPLOMATICALLY
In your face, but not important to your success
and/or the success of the organization.
• Trivial and 'off-loaded' requests from others
• Apparent emergencies and ad-hoc interruptions
• Misunderstandings appearing as complaints
• Irrelevant distractions and pointless routines
• Dealing with accumulated unresolved trivia
• Duplicated effort caused by poor communication
• Excess double-checking/micro-management
• Boss's whims or tantrums
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19. DEALING WITH QUADRANT 3
Tactics for handling quadrant 3 activities include:
• Help originators (even your boss) re-assess importance.
• Hone your ability to explain why you can’t do them.
• Where possible reject immediately (diplomatically).
• Delegate or find another way to achieve what’s needed.
• Find the cause of repeating demands and work to
prevent re-occurrence (A project for Quadrant 2 if important!)
• Train others to use long-term remedies, not quick fixes.
• Challenge “we've always done it this way” thinking.
• Help others to better manage their time and attention.
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20. Q4: NOT URGENT OR IMPORTANT - RESIST & CEASE
These are the real time wasters: not vying for
immediate attention and not important to success.
• Unnecessary and unchallenged routines
• Computer games, net surfing, silly emails/texts
• Over-long or excessive breaks
• Gossip, personal communication, interrupting others
• Daydreaming, doodling, reading irrelevant material
• Unnecessary adjusting, tidying, updating systems
• Embellishment and over-production
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Aimless travel and driving
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21. DEALING WITH QUADRANT 4
These activities are not tasks; they are habits that that
provide comfort and refuge from the effort of discipline.
• Many people doing a lot of quadrant 4 activity
creates a non-productive and ineffective culture.
• With no positive outcomes, these activities, when
commonplace, are demotivating.
• Can be stress related. Consider why you (or
employees) do these things. If there’s a deeper root
cause, address it.
• To stop these activities, have a clear structure and
daily schedule of tasks (created in quadrant 2).
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22. YOUR JOB
• Your job is to assess and prioritize! While you
can't manage time itself, you can focus on
managing your attention and activities for
exceptional results.
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23. PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER
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24. ENHANCING PERFORMANCE WITH TRIBEHR
Use TribeHR’s goals tracking and company
values to help your team prioritize activities and
enhance performance.
Follow us on Twitter @TribeHR
Subscribe to the TribeHR blog for more timely
HR information.
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25. REFERENCES & PHOTOS
Flikr/creative commons/Karen Roe
Flikr/creative commons/Hunter Langston
Flikr/creative commons/Charlotte Fire Department
Flikr/creative commons/Thomas’s Pics
Flikr/creative commons/Sean MacEntee
Flikr/creative commons/OneWayStock
Flikr/creative commons/Nuhaa All Bakry
Covey, S. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Flikr/creative commons/Darron Berginheier
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