Category 4: Neither Urgent nor Important-These leisure and entertainment activities contribute nothing to your life, and effective people tend to avoid them.ĭevelop Time Management Skills to Complement the Tools.Category 3: Urgent, but not Important-These activities are typically things that other people want you to do but that aren’t important to you.

Category 2: Not Urgent, but Important-This is where you should spend most of your time, because it includes activities that could easily be put off, but that bring great benefits in the long term (like exercising).Category 1: Urgent and Important-The crises and problems in this category eat up your time and distract you from preventing future crises, creating a vicious cycle.The matrix has four task categories, which Covey refers to as quadrants: To prioritize the tasks that will have the biggest positive impact on your life, Covey promotes a time management matrix originally designed by President Eisenhower that categorizes tasks based on their urgency and importance (meaning that they contribute to your goals, values, and personal mission statement).

(Shortform note: To help you apply Covey’s advice, we’ve included organizational strategies later in this guide from the more detailed, systematic approach described in Getting Things Done.) Why It Matters Prioritize your time and actions in order to live up to your personal mission statement. Habit 3: Prioritize Important Over Urgent Habit Description

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