Balancing the 4 Quadrants of Life-Part-III

How Are You Spending Your Time

I experienced a glaring flash of the obvious the other day: I recognized how come I’d been lagging on my commitments and feeling more stressed. I had fallen for the enticement of the pressing important and been giving chase to bright baubles of fake productivity. And it was not because I didn’t have adequate time, though that would have been a commodious – and irresponsible – excuse. It was because rather than directing my schedule, I’d let myself by directed by it.

What’s Really Important

Do you ever feel like you are caught up in doing, but not certain if you’re doing what you ought to be doing? It’s chilling to think we may be throwing all our time and vitality into going up a ladder, simply to discover at the top it’s been leaning against the wrong wall.

As luck would have it for me, I have a technique I’ve utilized throughout the years to help me figure out what I should be doing – quickly.

The pressing is not all of the time crucial:

If you discover your life whirling out of control, you have to understand four crucial areas and why they’re crucial.

	Pressing	Not Pressing
Crucial	1 Crisis	2 Planning
Not Crucial	3 Distractions	4 Time Wasters

Area 1: are the matters in your life that are both pressing and crucial. Things like deadline-driven jobs and crises. We all have Area1 activities in our lives, However if you’re feeling burned-out, chances are you dwell here.

Area 2: is full of matters that are not pressing but crucial which may range from spending quality time with your loved ones to regular work outs. They won’t force urgency on you like a deadline but they are the cornerstones a quality life is built upon.

The more time you spend in Area 2, planning, ramping up your strength, organizing, the less time you spend and the more effective you get in Area 1.

Area 3: is where the pressing but not crucial things dwell. A few calls, meetings, eleventh hour appointments that appear pressing but are really not crucial fall into Area 3.

Area 4: is where the frivolous not pressing and not crucial stuff is. Vegging out in front of the television set, not learning or doing anything is an Area 4 activity.

It’s obvious we ought to be spending most of our time in Area 1 & 2. Spending overmuch time in Area 3 and 4 soaks up your time, gives you tension and exhausts your ability to perform in real Area 1 and 3 activities.

Which Area do you believe you’re spending most of your time today?

Steps To Getting Into A Flow

In the last chapter, we found out a mighty way to find out if the matters we spend our time on are truly that pressing and crucial.

Now, here is a different mighty technique to get you into a good pattern and get your life on track.

Take A Good Look

What Roles Are You Responsible For?

We all play a lot of roles in our lives. I may be a sibling, employee, author, martial artist, manager, acquaintance, mate, artist, son, depending upon where I am, what I am doing and whom I am with.

What are the roles presently in your life?

Write them all down. Now, considering every role, ask yourself; what is the most crucial thing you may be doing for this role?

And ask yourself are you doing it?

Considering your roles, trim them down to a manageable three to seven if you find more than that, for the following seven days ahead. Considering every role, ask yourself what the most crucial thing you may do for the week ahead is.

Break up that goal into actionable measures. Measures easy enough that you are able to take, and schedule them into the week ahead so they get to be real.

This will get you to switch from Area 3 and Area 4 into the Area 2 activities that have substance, and defeat the totalitarianism of the fake pressing to do what is really crucial for you.

Executing these easy steps will likewise get you feeling more at ease and better your flow. However if you still feel distressed from the daily grind, in the following chapter I outline a way for you to discharge your anxiousness.

Ease The Stress

If you are still feeling stressed out and swamped, here are three easy steps to discharge your overload and cut down the anxiousness you feel in your life.

De-Stress

Ditch It

Do a mental ditch. Get everything that you believe you ought to, wish and have to do, out of your brain and into something else: a sheet of paper or a text file in your computer. Write all of it out.

Shove It

If we had our way, we would accomplish everything on our lists. But if you are already suffering from overburden chances are you don’t have adequate time to accomplish everything you wish. Considering the list, what do you wish to keep there and what do you wish to get rid of?

Sort it out into two lists: Actionable for those you wish to hold on to and follow up on, and someday/perhaps for those you do not. And then, be as choosy as you are able to. Which are the high-leverage, crucial and worthwhile undertakings you wish to keep in your life?

Do It

Considering the actionable list, which are the most crucial and worthwhile tasks to follow up on in the coming week? Schedule them in and make them tangible.

Ditch, Shove and Do It.

Getting incomplete commitments out of your brain and onto a list, which you then sort and then follow up on  and this will  help you let go of unneeded worries and relieve the tension in your life.

But surely, you may ask yourself, it works, I’m feeling better already, but how may I keep my life on track like this day in and day out rather than making it simply a one-time deal? The answer is simple, but not always easy, and I’ll explain it in my next chapter.

Stay On Track

We discovered a way to find out if the matters we spend our time on are truly that pressing and crucial. We discovered how you may utilize that understanding to formulate clear and crucial goals for yourself, so you would always know you are doing what you may best be doing. We discovered how ditching it, shoving it and doing it may help you discharge your overburden and reduce the anxiousness you feel in your life. But how to you stay the course?

Stay On Track

It may be really tension -relieving to clear your head, and motivating to arrange significant goals for your roles. However how do you make certain you live in the flow perpetually, rather than having it be simply a different productivity tool that doesn’t last?

Here are two techniques; they are simple, but not all of the time easy.

Review Daily

Keep your goals and daily activities in a place where you are able to see them on a daily basis. I keep them in my cellular phone and on my personal computer desktop.

In addition to that, keep your steps easy and actionable. The difference between ‘bring in more cash’ and ‘glance through the classifieds for new possibilities’ is that one is accomplishable.

Review Weekly

Each week, do a critical review of your roles and goals – are they still the most crucial or have your priorities switched? If you feel like you have a lot weighing on your brain, ditch, shove and do it.

These two steps are simple, but not always easy, as they call for consistent action. The only tangible peace of mind is in recognizing that day-to-day, you are taking steps toward what’s crucial to you, and that takes a steady review of where you are and where you wish to go.

Wrapping Up

Total well-being involves balancing your mind, body emotions and spirit. This won't only supercharge your mood, but it may likewise help your body heal itself. Just making sure to take a few moments throughout the day to unite these 4 areas may provide peace and happiness to all facets of our lives.