Re: last week's matrix, know that the top quadrants are numbered 1 and 2, the lower two are numbered 3 and 4. This matrix appears often in the literature of personal productivity and writers commonly refer to "Quadrant 2 activities" or similar expressions.
"Big Rocks" illustration: if you make sure to do the big things (the MITs) first, the smaller stuff will find its way in and you'll be able to "get it all done." Starting with the little stuff doesn't work; there won't be enough room in your life left over for the MITs.
Solving big problems ultimately is a matter of individual persons making decisions (macroeconomics vs. microeconomics). Although life's responsibilities can be a big and complicated problem, it comes down to the individual decisions that you make. To be a human person (normally) means that you have the ability to decide and the responsibility for those decisions. Deciding what you do with your time, then, is a moral decision.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
The MITs, 09/18/11
God has commanded us to "redeem the time" (Eph. 5:16), which means to identify and take advantage of opportunities. However, we tend to focus on things that create pressure ("urgent" things) and to neglect the MITs. We drew this diagram (adapted from author Stephen Covey) on the board:
Focusing on the "important and urgent" things makes for a harried and frustrating life that is determined and shaped by things outside of you. The "important but not urgent" things are the MITs. Some people focus on the "urgent but not important" quadrant while thinking that their actions are important, but they seldom amount to anything significant, even though there is "pressure" to do them.
Spending time on the MITs tends to make the crises in life shrink. You become proactive rather than reactive, you happen to life rather than life happening to you, and you become opportunity minded rather than problem minded -- and that's necessary if you are to redeem the time.
Focusing on the "important and urgent" things makes for a harried and frustrating life that is determined and shaped by things outside of you. The "important but not urgent" things are the MITs. Some people focus on the "urgent but not important" quadrant while thinking that their actions are important, but they seldom amount to anything significant, even though there is "pressure" to do them.
Spending time on the MITs tends to make the crises in life shrink. You become proactive rather than reactive, you happen to life rather than life happening to you, and you become opportunity minded rather than problem minded -- and that's necessary if you are to redeem the time.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
The MITs, 09/11/11
"Time" is a scarce resource, but there is always enough time to do the perfect will of God. When you come to the end of a day, a week, or your life, you want to be able to look back and say "Even if I didn't do everything, I did do the most important things."
Just to get the topic rolling, we made a list of things that someone might think it important to be, do, or have:
When it is laid out like this, it shows more clearly how things in one column can cause things in another, and considering one thing important will automatically make another thing important. (Example: bathing!)
If you ask why any particular thing is important, eventually you will have to ground it in the will or nature of God. For example, health is important because it affects our productivity, and God has ordained that we be productive.
What do you think? Add your comments.
Just to get the topic rolling, we made a list of things that someone might think it important to be, do, or have:
When it is laid out like this, it shows more clearly how things in one column can cause things in another, and considering one thing important will automatically make another thing important. (Example: bathing!)
If you ask why any particular thing is important, eventually you will have to ground it in the will or nature of God. For example, health is important because it affects our productivity, and God has ordained that we be productive.
What do you think? Add your comments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)