Prioritise, execute, accomplish

How to do what matters most and raise your productivity quotient?

- STEVE SHALLENBERGER AND ROB SHALLENBERGER

Whether at work or home, we all have those occasional moments of total clarity where we know exactly what we should be doing, where we want to end up, and which tasks are the most important for getting us there. Unfortunately, the brain does not tend to linger there for long. That is why we also have many more moments lost in mindless Instagram scrolling or fending off the seemingly endless list of to-dos.

The key is to take control of our schedules and do what matters most. Easier said than done, right?

Plot where you spend time

To put the focus on activities that most matter for increasing productivity, consider starting with identifying where you or your team members tend to focus your attention.

Former US President Dwight D Eisenhower originally developed a version of a time accountability matrix; however, with some modification, this new Do-What-MattersMost version helps people and teams categorise tasks or behaviours into four quadrants:

Quadrant 1 – Important and Urgent

Quadrant 2 – Important, but not Urgent

Quadrant 3 – Not Important, but Urgent

Quadrant 4 – Neither Important nor Urgent

The quadrant that represents the DoWhat-Matters-Most tasks and where to maximise your time is Quadrant 2. This means that you will want to minimise the time spent in the other three quadrants.