Today, I am thankful for the power of prioritization.
Benjamin Franklin once quipped that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. Technically, one does not necessarily have to pay taxes, provided he or she sustains no income or property. Indeed, a few of us might be able to evade the tax collector, if we are willing to persevere on a humble existence of we choose to keep our inheritance underneath our mattress. However, none of us will ever escape the Grim Reaper.
Sorry, for the harsh lesson this morning, but it’s true. Every day, the clock of your life keeps ticking. Einstein might have taught us that time, like space, is relative, but he did not need to remind us of its finiteness. As a species, we already knew that. As I get one day older today, another 86,000+ seconds will tick off the clock. If I am so fortunate to live to the hearty age of ninety, I will have realized a lifetime comprised of 28+ billion seconds. Now, I’m not here today to put you in a depressed mood. Rather, I’m here to remind all my friends and colleagues that life is fixed and bounded by, well, time.
With this in mind, the one thing we can spend wisely (besides our money, of course) is our time. How we choose to spend our days is technically left to our own volition. Yes, I need to go to work today and complete a litany of tasks on my ‘to do’ list, but, in reality, this is a choice I am consciously making. The good news I’m here to share on this beautiful sunny day is that we do have control over the reigns as to how we manage our time. The process of planning and exercising willing control over our daily lives, in an effort to maintain effectiveness and efficiency, is known as time management. In essence, this voluntary activity is a juggling act as to how we spend the 86,600 seconds we have in a given day. Every morning, I willingly commit an hour (that is, 3,600 seconds, if you are keeping track at home) to exercise. During that time, I dedicate ten minutes, or about 6,000 seconds, to a mental ‘time management exercise’ during which I decide what activities I will work on that day.
To assist me in this task, I review my ‘to do’ list, and I ask myself the somewhat odd question: What would Dwight D. Eisenhower do if he were in my shoes?
Born on this day (October 14) in 1890, the little Texas boy would one day grow up to become a 5-Star Army General and the 34th President of the United States. Although born in Texas, Dwight D. Eisenhower spent most of his childhood days in Abilene, Kansas. Sadly, when he was only four, his 10-month old baby brother succumbed to diphtheria, giving Dwight an early lesson on the finiteness of life. In his brother’s honor, he committed himself to a life dedicated to diligence and focus. After graduating from West Point Military Academy, he was appointed to commandeer a tank training center during World War I in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he was reminded daily of the devastation of war at the site of the deadliest battle in American history. After the Great War ended, he continued his military training. Before assuming military posts of increasing demand, he attended graduate school for command and general training in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, where he finished first in his class of over 200 students. Under the purview of military generals such as John Pershing and Douglas McArthur, Eisenhower learned the importance of strategic planning and execution.
When World War II broke out, Eisenhower was asked to lead the Allied forces against Nazi Germany. He commanded the forces in North Africa in 1942, before assuming the post as the Supreme Commander of all troops in the famous D-Day invasion of June 1944. After the war, he was elected US President from the Republican Party in 1952, where he used his military acumen to defuse the alarming tensions of the Cold War, all while still continuing the Neal Deal & Fair Deal programs established by his earlier Democratic predecessors, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. He served two terms in the Chief Executive role before retiring to Gettysburg.
Yet of all his accomplishments during his illustrious career, the one item I have found most useful is the Eisenhower matrix. In his busy career, Eisenhower devised a simple 4-box approach to addressing issues, separating items into categories of Importance (Important, Not Important) and Urgency (Urgent, Not Urgent). Depending on which quadrant the task landed, he decided to utilize his time accordingly. If in Box 1 (Important and Urgent), he performed the task immediately. If in Box 2 (Important but Not Urgent), he would plan out how to address the issue. If in Box 3 (Not Important but Urgent), he delegated to others below his command to complete the task in a timely fashion. Finally, if in Box 4 (Not Important and Not Urgent), he deleted the task off his list. I ‘like Ike’s’ matrix as a simple, useful tool to help me plan my ‘To Do’ list each day, at least in terms of prioritizing my time.
Let’s face the truth, folks: At the end of the day, there’s only 86,600 seconds in a single rotation of the Earth on its axis. Far be it for me to tell you how to spend your time, but I can advise you plan to do so wisely. If I can leave you with just one thought, I’ll kindly remind you what Ike once brilliantly said, “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.”
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