Despite that, I stopped using it. It wasn’t an all of the sudden thing, but gradual. One of the big downsides to the system was the giant binder that contained everything. You had to take it with you everywhere you went for the system to really be effective. It was a big drawback that kept me constantly trying to find a better way.
Then came the internet and the digital age. I tried to adapt the planner to the digital world and struggled. Then when I left the corporate world, I let it all go. And I have been trying to get back that loving feeling ever since. That place where you end the day feeling like you have made great strides towards the things that really matter to you.
When I saw this book, it reminded me that I haven’t gotten back to that place yet. I have bits and pieces in the right place but that solid system that really takes you to the next level isn’t there. So I couldn’t resist the promise of this book.
The 5 Choices will seem familiar to anyone that has used the Franklin Planner system. It is a review and revision of the basic principles. But it addresses things in a current context. It is both easier and harder to achieve extraordinary productivity and feel accomplished in our lives.
Times change and bring new opportunities and challenges. How you adapt to those changes, ultimately dictates how satisfied you will be with your life. Today, we face 3 significant challenges.
- We are making more decisions than ever – The Industrial Age is over. Manual labor has shifted to creative mental labor. Assembly line thinking doesn’t apply any more. Decisions can’t be made in a linear fashion. High value decisions don’t come in a predictable order and opportunities aren’t linear. Making good decisions about the things that really matter is what makes a difference, not processing everything faster. Top-performers vary from bottom-performers in every job. But the degree of variation widens with the level of complexity of the job. To the point where, in highly complex jobs, the degree of variance is unmeasurable. Making it more critical to adapt how we approach our day.
- Our attention is under unprecedented attack – It is too easy to drift and go on mental auto pilot.
- We suffer from a personal energy crisis – A productive life is a conscious life, and that takes mental energy. Distractions reduce our energy levels. Energy management takes on a whole new level of importance.
How are we using our time?
Franklin Covey conducted a time study over a 6 year period. Their conclusion was that 40% of our time is spent on unimportant or irrelevant activities. YIKES!
In an Industrial Age we could focus on production efficiency, but now, we need to think differently. What if we could shift – even marginally – to a more productive state?
Your most valuable asset
Do you believe that your most valuable asset is your life and the time and energy you spend living it each day? Doesn’t it make sense that you should spend more of it on things things that matter? Getting you to that place is the promise of The 5 Choices. Even if you work in a highly controlled environment, there are conscious decisions that you can make bringing your whole self to what you do. Everyone has the capacity to do extraordinary work. You don’t have to be curing cancer or winning Nobel prizes. It really is the ability to end every day feeling satisfied and accomplished…however you define that.
How you get there
The 5 Choices is about increasing your capability in 3 areas.
Decision Management
1. Act on the important – don’t react to the urgent.
2. Go for the extraordinary – don’t settle for the ordinary
Attention Management
3. Schedule the big rocks – don’t sort the gravel
4. Rule your technology – don’t let it rule you
Energy Management
5. Fuel your fire – don’t burn out
What is at stake with these 5 Choices is the quality of your life and work and the satisfaction you feel in making your unique contribution. You can rise above the chaos.
Choice #1 – Act on the important – don’t react to the urgent
There is a reactive part of of the brain and a thinking part of the brain. Our ability to choose a more thoughtful response to something is at the heart of what it means to be human. The good news is that we can actually rewire our brains to be more thoughtful and discerning about our choices that determine the quality, joy and happiness of our lives. The key to good high-value decisions is to have a frame work and a process. If you have studied the Franklin system, the frame work is the Time Matrix the process is Pause-Clarify-Decide (PCD).
The Time Matrix is defined by two variables. On one axis you have urgency. On the other axis you have importance. This is the cornerstone to the system. So the matrix of urgency and importance creates 4 Quadrants (Q) that are:
- Q1 – Necessary (Urgent and Important)
- Q2 – Extraordinary Productivity (Not Urgent/ Important)
- Q3 – Distraction (Urgent/Not Important)
- Q4 – Waste (Not Urgent/ Not Important)
How you spend your time defines the quality of your life. The goal is to maximize the time spent in Q2, minimize the time in Q1 and eliminate Q3&4 activities.
If you spend a lot of time in Q1, you can feel productive and energized. But spending too much time there can also cause burnout. Stress levels are high in Q1 which will drain you of your thinking and creative energy. We rarely do our best work in Q1 even though sometimes we convince ourselves that we do.
Q2 is where you take charge of your life. But this is the one place that you have to consciously choose. The activities in the other quadrants just come to you and you can simply react. But to get to Q2 you have to use your thinking brain, not the reactive brain. Q2 activities are things like:
- Planning
- Preparation
- Prevention
- Relationship building
- Values clarification
Time spent on these activities can reduce problems that show up as Q1 activities forcing you to deal with them in a less productive way. Time spent on Q2 activities can produce exponential returns.
The work that I do with clients and the Profit First System are critical Q2 activities. The planning and preparation you do setting up and using this system keeps you from the crisis that happens when you don’t have a strategy around your money. If you have ever had a panic attack around payroll coming due or an unexpected tax bill, you know what I mean.
Next week we will look at the remaining choices. But for now, I want you to really think about how you are spending your time. Are you with the majority of people, spending 40% or your time on the unimportant or irrelevant activities? Apply the process of PCD…pause for a minute before you begin work. Clarify what is the most important thing you can do today. Decide what you can do today that is the most important Q2 task you can accomplish to keep it from turning into a Q1 crisis. It all starts with awareness. Then the choice is yours.
Where can you rescue time to create a more satisfying and accomplished life?
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