The Four Quadrants do not mean what you think they mean
How we are misinterpreting Stephen Covey’s point behind the time management matrix.
Before I start down this path, I want to make something perfectly clear, I am linking two videos of talks I appreciate a great deal in my practice of coaching folks. Having said that, both of them reference something in a way that I believe is actually a misrepresentation of the original intent behind Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; specifically the Time Management Matrix:
“The essential focus of the fourth generation of management can be captured in the time management matrix […]. Basically, we spend time in one of four ways.” ~ The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
(Emphasis added. Also, “The Time Management Matrix” is sometimes referred to as “The Four Quadrant to-do list”.)
Again, the two talks are wonderful. Make the time to watch them both. Neither of them is a prerequisite for what we’re about to dive into. And, is something I saw a lot a few years ago as productivity coaching experienced a rennaissance.
(Note: We are not talking about the Eisenhower Method, as this is not the referenced source used most often when referring to the Time Management Matrix.)
So, brief history.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was written as a timeless approach to basically being an effective human being.
Yeah. Seriously.
It’s not about getting things done, we have an entire book (a lot of them in fact) about that, and I recommend it as well.
Covey opens the book talking about a cycle he saw in the way humans interact with one another; or, more accurately, a shift in the “self-help” literature, teaching people how to interact with one another. A transition from the “character ethic” to the “personality ethic”:
“The Character Ethic taught that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character. But shortly after World War 1 the basic view of success shifted from the Character Ethic to what we might call the Personality Ethic. Success became more a function of personality, of public image, of attitudes and behaviors, skills and techniques, that lubricate the processes of human interaction. […] Some of this philosophy was expressed in inspiring and sometimes valid maxims such as […] ‘Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.’ Other parts of the personality approach were clearly manipulative, even deceptive, encouraging people to use techniques to get other people to like them, or to fake interest in the hobbies of others to get out of them what they wanted, or to use the ‘power look,’ or to intimidate their way through life.”
And Covey puts forth a model for leading a principle-centered life. The overarching premise is that there are three positions you can be in at any given moment: dependent, independent, and interdependent. When you are dependent, someone else has to do for you. When you are independent, you do for yourself. When you are interdependent, you along with others, are operating synergystically.
It’s important to note that Covey defined “habit” as being the intersection of knowledge (what to, why to), skill (how to), and desire (want to).
To move from dependence to independence, requires private (internal) victories and the mastery (or at least acknowledgement) of three habits:
- Be proactive.
- Begin with the end in mind.
- Put first things first.
In order to respect your time, dear reader, I will not cover all the habits — maybe some other time. Further, I will not actually delve too far into each of the habits listed above.
Instead, I want to focus on the third habit: Put first things first.
If you aren’t familiar with the allegory of jars and rocks and marbles and sand, please check out the Covey video (and consider whether you’re keeping up with your internet memes and various feeds the way you should).
The allegory establishes a prioritization strategy. Or, as Randy Pausch puts it in his other lecture: Doing the right things adequately beats all hell out of doing the wrong things beautifully. Note: This one habit is so key to Covey’s overall approach and vision of being an effective human being that there’s actually a book on the subject.
It is in this habit that the reader is first introduced to the Time Management Matrix and the idea of Quadrant II (upper right) living. And here’s why I believe the prevailing interpretations are incorrect.
The prevailing interpretation is that the Time Management Matrix is a means by which to organize your to-do list. (In fact, I remember an app not too long ago that was designed exactly this way…might actually still be around.) Further, the interpretation goes, what you do is focus on getting “done” those things in Quadrant II so that they never become Quadrant I. Finally, you minimize the number of things you have in Quadrants III and IV.
Again, I believe this interpretation misses the point entirely and misappropriates the lesson of the Time Management Matrix; subjugating it to being a prioritization methodology and task tracking tool.
So, unlearn what you have learned for a moment, and walk with me.
Covey said, “Basically, we spend time in one of four ways.” So, either you are doing something that is important and due soon; something that is important and not due soon; something that is not important and due soon; or, something that is not important and not due soon.
In other words, the Time Management Matrix is not a way to plan or prioritize your activities, it is a way to assess the activities you are already performing.
Example time.
If you believe reading this article will help you become a better person, or improve your life, in some way, then it is not a Quadrant III or IV activity (because it is important to you). Now, unless you have been told to read this article right now or you will be fired (or your company will lose a lot of money or some other rain of terror will occur), what you are doing right now (reading this article) is not a Quadrant I activity. Therefore, you are performing a Quadrant II activity.
My interpretation of The 7 Habits book is that Quadrant II activities are the most important and most neglected. It rarely becomes urgent to go on vacation (when it does, it’s usually a hospital stay), but it’s always important to relax. One of my favorite lines from The 7 Habits book is: “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
What Covey also talks about is that so many of us spend so much of our time in Quadrant I that when we finally get it under control we escape to Quadrant IV; or get overtaken by Quadrant III.
So, if The Time Management Matrix isn’t the tool, what is?
According to The 7 Habits book regarding the three generations of approaches up to what Covey described as the “fourth generation”:
“The first-generation notepads and ‘to do’ lists give us no more than a place to capture those things that penetrate our awareness so we won’t forget them. The second-generation appointment books and calendars merely provide a place to record our future commitments so that we can be where we have agreed to be at the appropriate time. Even the third generation, with its vast array of planners and materials, focuses primarily on helping people prioritize and plan their Quadrants I and III activities. […] As each generation builds on those that have preceded it […] there is an added need for a new dimension, for the paradigm and the implementation that will empower us to move into Quadrant II, to become principle-centered and to manage ourselves to do what is truly most important.”
(I told you, for Covey, the mission was not becoming more productive or being better at time managament; it was becoming what he considered to be a higher form of yourself…as most life coaches have as their mission.)
Covey’s work tends to focus on a top-down approach to things. Figure out your mission, vision, values, principles — then operate everything else from that position. And there is nothing wrong with that; however, it can be a bit on the difficult side for some (too existential). So, alternatively, what you can do is examine your habits and practices, and use those to identify what you believe that “says about you” and subsequently your mission, vision, values, and principles — again, according to you. Then, if you don’t like what you find, then figure out ways to change. (Personally, I’m constantly going at it from both sides. Why did you do that? Or, I believe in X; therefore, doing Y is okay.)
Anyway. Back to the tool.
According to The 7 Habits book, the tool that you need for fourth generation life management must:
- Recognize, remind, and pay homage to your mission, vision, values, and principles in life.
- It must allow you to identify the various roles you have in your life: employee, father, brother, partner, and so on.
- It must allow you to establish goals for each of these roles, if possible or necessary. (You may not always have a new goal for being a brother.)
- It must allow you to create a plan (the hard landscape as David Allen calls it in Getting Things Done) related to accomplishing those goals. (Note: You can delegate some of the actions related to the plan.)
- It must afford you the opportunity to practice the seventh habit (sharpen the saw); therefore, it must be time-boxed in some way (usually one week).
And, here it is (at least one of the many interpretations):
Conclusion
I’ve seen the Time Management Matrix referred to as “a great contribution to the world” and “a good step, but an incomplete tool for managing activities”. I say, the matrix was never meant to be the tool for doing things — as a tool it gives you buckets in which to put the things you are doing.
Laundry? Probably not Quadrant II. Dishes? Probably not Quadrant II. Taking a course online? Probably Quadrant II. Non-enlightening television? Probably Quadrant IV (that’s actually one of Covey’s examples).
So, the next time someone talks about the work of Stephen Covey, and it feels like the focus is on processes and tools for improved productivity, I would question the overall accuracy — given the focus of his work — a paradigm shift to focusing on character, not personality (or task management for that matter), and principle-centered living:
“The Character Ethic is based on the fundamental idea that there are principles that govern human effectiveness—natural laws in the human dimension that are just as real, just as unchanging and unarguably ‘there’ as laws such as gravity are in the physical dimension.”
(I’m sure I’ll have more to say about the multiplier concept as well. But, for now, I’m just glad I finally have the video I was looking for in one of my other articles. Let us not forget again.)
