More than a decade ago I listened to the great Stephen Covey talk about staying focused on what he called Quadrant 2 — tasks that are important but not urgent. He pointed out that most of us spend our days fighting fires in Quadrant 1 — buried in tasks that are urgent and important (emergencies). At the time I thought it was something of an exaggeration.

Today, I’m about 500x busier than I was then. Good news for a small businessperson, but it also made me realize Mr. Covey wasn’t talking to that past me…he was speaking to 2014 me. When we get so busy that every day is a blur and we head home with almost untouched to-do lists, it can take a serious toll on the spirit. Are your long-term “big idea” goals starting to seem like impossible dreams? You’ll never get that new app developed or write that book if every day is as busy as yesterday was.

You need a crow bar to pop you out of this emergency-filled rut. At our office we recently introduced something we are calling a Cease Fire hour. During this time each week, every team member is given permission to set aside all the urgent demands of the day, ignore the phone, and focus on a project that they have been putting off. This is meant to be exclusively Quadrant 2 time.

It works. That hour is energizing and productive. Projects that have lain dormant for months are suddenly moving forward. Even better, the guilt that some of us have carried around about our lack of progress is being lifted away.

So, if you are feeling caught in a daily battle with urgent tasks that crowd out your big ideas…maybe it’s time for a cease fire.

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