Effective > Efficient

The best way to achieve sustainable change is to develop healthy habits. The 7 habits shared presented here are pragmatic and universal irrespective of who you are or where you live right now.
Day 8 of the 28 Day Self-Growth Plan
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

As much as I actually enjoyed last week (even the misses), I must admit I was looking forward to this week for different reasons. Sure, it has been great exercise getting into the writing groove again. It has been inspiring and motivating to get little crash courses of self-development work.

But this week I knew I had read, in their entirety, five of the seven titles. This would be the week where I could fairly decide whether the other summaries I had read before and will read later were decent in their content. I don’t know why this was important to me except that maybe I felt compelled to give the ones I didn’t particularly care for last week the benefit of the doubt.

Well, that discussion will have to wait for another time because I have been firmly reminded how good The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People really is. Seriously, if you haven’t read this book in its full-length format, I cannot recommend it enough. The Franklin Covey website states it best:

Stephen R. Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People^®, continues to be a best seller for the simple reason that it ignores trends and pop psychology and focuses on timeless principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity. 

And honestly, I know I said I wasn’t going to just book report this stuff, but 7 Habits is bullet point worthy.

The executive summary points out the key areas of focus to achieve effectiveness. As one would suspect, each of these seven areas coincides with a habit. Why do I trust the habits? Because I believe you are hard pressed to find a better focus list.

I could stop here. Really, there’s so much there that adding my little two cents won’t increase the worth at all. But I am excited about it. So that’s what I want to tell you about. That’s the part I want to record.

I know that I have heard the idea before, but on this day in 2020, “Many of us are working efficiently but not effectively. We are achieving goals that won’t matter in the end” just hit different.

How long have I strived to be efficient? How many times just since last week have I talked about my time management and scheduling difficulties? Organization, planning, prioritizing – all in the name of efficiency. Because really, if I get MORE done (efficient) regardless of WHAT (importance) those check marks are, isn’t that a win? In short, no, it isn’t. How much would I miss out on by not focusing more on effectiveness?

And because that idea struck me in a new way, so did the idea of quadrants.

Quadrant 1 – Urgent/Important
Quadrant 2 – Not Urgent/Important
Quadrant 3 – Urgent/Not Important
Quadrant 4 – Not Urgent/Not Important

Which Quadrant should I focus most on? Instinctively I said Quadrant 1. I was wrong. It is Quadrant 2. Of course it is Quadrant 2. These are the important, non-urgent things

• The kid that will wait for you to read to him
• The friend that understands when you don’t call back
• The spouse that keeps dinner warm
• The sibling whose birthday gets forgotten
• The gym schedule that keeps getting put off
• The vacation that never gets planned

Not urgent because the world won’t burn down if you don’t do them. The people that love you will understand, mostly. Your body will make do without self-care, for a time. Mostly, and only for a time.

That’s why I am here right now. I haven’t stopped since 4:30 this morning. I have all these things that are “important” and “urgent.” And I do not make light of them. I respect the importance and time sensitive nature of my work and those who depend on me to meet deadlines.

I also know that I put more pressure on myself to overperform. I attempt to deliver higher quality at an earlier date. While commendable, is that type of quadrant placement effective?

No.

Writing is important to me. Exercise is important to me. Morning coffee, a movie with my family, schedule flexibility for my husband, college. These things are important to me as well. They deserve the effective, engaged, productive, parts of me – not the efficient, mark the box version.

Sharpen the saw…even when you don’t realize it is dull…keep sharpening.