A Coaching Power Tool created by Achraf Rachad
(Team Coach, MOROCCO)
Because we don’t know what is really important to us, everything seems important.
Because everything seems important, We have to do everything.
Other people, unfortunately, see us as doing everything, so they expect us to do everything.
Doing everything keeps us so busy, We don’t have time to think about, what is really important to us. anonymous
It seems like there is an endless battle between the quadrant 2 and the quadrant 3 from the famous Eisenhower Matrix, since it’s easy to identify what’s urgent and important and these are usually crisis, the same goes for what is not urgent nor it’s important, we know it’s a distraction, so we are left with the one hard to identify Urgent but not important Vs what’s important but not urgent:
This is a daily battle we have to deal with, in every area of our life, do we react to events occurring around us, so they act upon us, or do we act in a proactive way? You can easily get an answer to those questions by thinking about your life now, and see which quadrant you live in most of the time.
But let’s get into a deeper level; do we really know what’s important to us? And if we do know that, do we keep the main things the main things, as Stephen covey would say “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing”, or do we fall into the life’s traps, and distractions, that sometimes we get confused whether it’s a distraction or an opportunity!!
What’s urgent and not important?
While reading this, your phone might ring, and what’s your reaction? There is a big chance that you answer, because you’re almost programmed to respond to what’s urgent by assuming it’s important as well, let’s suppose the caller dialed the wrong number, how important the call is, now? The same goes for emails, or even secondary tasks, so urgent is whatever that requires immediate action, but doesn’t contribute in the achievement of the end goal.
The rule: What would happen if?
It’s that simple ask yourself this question, what would happen if I don’t do it?! What are the consequences? how is that affecting my goals and values ? what’s the intent behind it ? the what ifs are a fast forwarding situations, to how valuable the outcome is compared to the one you set up for yourself, how this come might or not contribute in the achievement of the end-goal.
Yes and No
All what it takes, is to be able to say Yes and No, before we build this ability we need to be fully and consciously aware, that when we say yes to distractions and urgent that is not important, we say No to what’s really important to us, we say no to our goals, to our dreams, do we sound like someone who has self-love?! in the other hand when we say no to distractions, no to urgent that is not important, even when it comes in a form of “someone”, a firm smiling No, could only hide a BURNING Yes inside, yes to your goals, to your dreams, yes filled with self-love not with impulses, success is nothing but a bunch of good decisions, it is in the details.
Remind yourself
No matter how committed you are, life will get in the way, along with challenges and obstacles, and things start getting confusing, this is why we need to remind ourselves of the main things: our goals our values, to get ourselves back in the right track, and follow through, noticing what works and what doesn’t through self-awareness, keep your goals list and mission statement next to you if you are visual person, or even in a form of a picture you may want to put a structure in place, to help you staying connected with your goals.