Important, Not Urgent

I've read Stephen Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and "First Things First" a long time ago. They're good books but after you close the book, depending on the individual, there will be a varying degree to the length of time where you'll forget about what you've read. Especially so if it is not applied in our daily life. I just heard an audio book about time management yesterday and Covey's 4 Quadrant was repeated in it.

Q1 - Important and Urgent
Q2 - Important but Not Urgent
Q3 - Not Important but Urgent
Q4 - Not Important and Not Urgent

It's good to have this refresher after like more than 10 years. Even though the idea may appear every now and then in articles, blogs, etc., but sometimes it didn't hit you very much. You did not appreciate it as much as you should. This time it did. Probably listening and reading is different. I have been told I'm an auditory person before though I believe I'm a combination depending on the situation. Anyway, that is a different story.

In the book, it was said that most people would tackle Q1 and Q3 and delaying Q2 if it is necessary. An example of Q1 could be a deadline at work. You have to rush for the deadline or you'll loose your job or that client or that contract. Q3 is those annoying ringing of the phone that will go on and on until you picked it up. It could be unimportant but it is urgent or you'll throw that da*n phone on the wall. Isn't it sad to know that most of us would put on hold things important to us just because they are not urgent? Our family, our loved ones, our health, our personal goals, future plans... just because we think our family will always be there, our loved ones would understand and we'll hopefully be healthy always. We'll take care of those plans and goals later when we have more time.

What if we suddenly loose a family member before we get the chance to see them one more time? What if we loose a family member before we can fulfill our promise? What if our loved ones left us or become distant? What if our health showed us the outcome of all that excuses of not exercising or have proper diet? What if we never have time for those plans and goals?

Covey notes in his book that a highly effective people make time for Q2. Learn to prioritize so we have time for Q2. I know it is easier said than done but I don't want to wake up one day with regrets and started thinking about the 'What ifs'. What if I have done things differently? I'm always reminded of 9/11 when we talk about urgency and importance. The men and women in business suits or other work attire, going through the day handling the urgent and important and not important but urgent tasks. After the event, for those who survive, I'm sure all they think about are those in Q2.

If we think we can delay 'balik kampung' to meet our parent(s) because of that urgent and important meeting, why is it that meeting becomes not urgent and important anymore if our parent(s) passed away. Why do we have the perfect excuse to 'balik kampung' after someone died? Why do we finally able to make the time to see a dead body instead of enjoying the time when they are alive? Of course this is an extreme example. There are many other scenarios if we think about it carefully. I've been in Q1 and Q3 myself and will still have to handle these quadrants. But nowadays I try to make some time for Q2 as much as possible. Doing things alone if I have to... like going into the jungle :) I can't afford to wait for the right time and the right moment with the right company. I may not have the time.