#228 Q2

One of Stephen Covey's most profound concepts was his articulation of the time management matrix -- he divided into four quadrants along urgent/not urgent and important/not important.  In Quadrant 2 (Q2) were things that were important but not urgent -- like working on relationships, planning, exercise -- things that you should be working on but don't have a deadline so often you aren't working on them.  He advocated spending more of our time there and less time in Q1 (the urgent but not important -- like responding to the email "ding" each time it goes off).

I think many of our school systems and even colleges do a disservice to students by being so structured.  Students become driven by assignments that have rules and deadlines and accustomed to only doing things when they have to.  Many schools don't teach students how to do important things that only have a self-imposed deadline.  

How can we make independent study -- and preparation for it -- become a required part of the curriculum?  It would be a true life lesson if students left the educational enterprise having mastered Q2 skills.  Think how far we all we would go if we truly spent our time on the important instead of just the urgent.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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