Planning is so important. Without effective planning we are guaranteed to fail or at least to forget important things. But not all planning is created equal. Throwing a plan together shortly before an important event is better than nothing, but only marginally. Taking time to plan not only takes time and energy, it requires clarity on what is important; that's why it is so often neglected. However, there is a way to gain clarity on priorities and put effective plans into place, Put First Things First. First you must know what the First Things are. Habit 1 engages you to be proactive. Habit 2 asks you to identify what is important to you. Habit 3 puts your priorities into action. Are you a husband, wife, father, mother, employee, manager, author, artist, musician, friend, volunteer? Steven Covey asks then "what one activity done superbly well and consistently would produce marvelous results?" What a great question. What one activity done superbly well and consistently would produce marvelous results as an employee for Peczuh Printing, as a husband, as a father, as a friend? These are the activities that fall into the quadrant 2 of the time management matrix; they are not urgent and important. Now, schedule those activities every week, before the week begins. When planning on a daily basis, we operate in quadrant 1 (urgent and important). However, the quadrant 2 (not urgent and important) activities tend to get left behind. By planning at the beginning of the week, we can make sure that the not urgent and important activities are scheduled in and everything else will fill up around them. This has been a struggle for me to accomplish, especially with failing health this summer, but I am re-committing to weekly planning because I see the results of not doing it. They're not great. When I've effectively planned my weeks, they have been far more productive and I have had much greater personal clarity.
