Teach Middle East Magazine Jan - Mar 2020 Issue 2 Volume 7 | Page 50

Personal Development
FIRST THINGS FIRST THIS NEW YEAR
BY: MARTHA DA COSTA-SHERWOOD
I
t’s that time of year again when we
set ambitious new year resolutions,
hoping to revamp our lives. The most
common New Year’s resolutions
are dieting/eating healthier, exercising
more, trying to lose weight, getting
more organised, learning a new skill/
hobby, living life to the fullest, saving
more/spending less, quitting smoking,
spending more time with friends and
family, travelling and reading more.
The problem is that despite our best
intentions, once the novelty of a new
year wears off, many of us struggle to
make good on our new year plans. In
fact, research shows that only about 8%
of us are ever successful at achieving
our new year’s resolutions.
Naturally, we don’t want to be in
the camp of folks that fail to achieve
their aspirations and dreams for 2020
or beyond. Following on from the
‘First Things First’ session I presented
at the Middle East School Leaders
conference on October 8th and 9th
2019 in Dubai, I have mapped out an
exhaustive plan for following through
on our resolutions and life goals.
Time Management
‘First things first’ begins with time
management. One of the biggest
frustrations many of us have in life is
with the overwhelming feeling that
we do not have enough time to do the
plethora of tasks at hand, let alone time
for ourselves. In reality ‘not enough
time’ is just a feeling — we all have the
same amount of time; the difference is
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Term 2 Jan - Mar 2020
what we actually do with our time.
Stephen Covey popularised the
Dwight
D.
Eisenhower’s
Time
Management Matrix (see Fig. 1), which
prioritises tasks, separating those that
are important from those that are
urgent. Something is urgent when
it requires our immediate attention,
and something is important when it
contributes to our life goals or purpose.
So, what do we do with our time?
Truth be told we are inclined to focus
on things that are easy, funny, or
popular, but unimportant (Quadrant 4),
as well as urgent stuff that catches our
attention and pressures us (Quadrant
3). As a result, we end up being reactive
and neglect the activities that are
After the Bell
important but not urgent (Quadrant
2), since they don’t demand our
immediate attention. Never-the-less
ignoring them means they eventually
become urgent, and we end up in a
vicious circle of always living in reactive
mode (Quadrant 1).
How do we get out of this vicious
cycle?
Without sounding too cliché, the
answer is to put ‘first things first’. We
put ‘first things first’ by spending more
time in Quadrant 2 and less time in
the others. Quadrants 3 and 4 include
things that are, urgent or not, do not
matter; delegate and eliminate them
and use the gained time on Quadrant
2 activities. The more time we spend
in Quadrant 2, the less time we spend
at the mercy of Quadrant 1. The heart
of effective personal management
lies in Quadrant 2. Here are the things
that allow us to live and act proactively,
seizing opportunities rather than
dashing
around
problem-solving.
Building relationships, developing
ourselves and planning for future