important but not-so-urgent

i went to this supervisory workshop back awhile ago and they taught me about this thing called Covey's time management matrix (i didn't know that was what it was called until google so kindly helped me out 30 seconds ago). so i was rummaging through my file folders at work this week (while trying to rearrange my life) and ran across my notes about this matrix. there's four different quadrants to help you prioritize effectively ... important/urgent (must be dealt with now-i must react to the crisis)... important/not urgent (the happy place where things are planned and i am proactive-this is where we should try to be) ... not important/urgent (phone calls, emails, interruptions)... not important/not urgent (wasting time, busy work, trivial).

the barn is my sweet spot. i like it. it's comfortable and often highly enjoyable. i've ended up in the office for almost 2 weeks straight. and i feel as if the office brings out the worst in me (well perhaps the lab does, but i haven't been there enough to know). after being a crazy busy barn filled 50 hr/wk work week January ... i entered into this odd time in the office with little animal work on my to do list (which often ends up as high priority). it's been really showing me how challenging it is for me to be in that important/not urgent quadrant of Covey's matrix. i don't know if it's because i enjoy being just busy enough that i can leave the less desirable things in the parking lot (just waiting for me to have time) and have a legit excuse why they are still sitting there. ... or if i just can't see the long term benefits perfecting things like standard operating procedures and our all too new purchase order system or processes to ensure data integrity and completeness.

it's interesting for me to see (and this week it's been slamming me in the face) what an uphill battle it really is to be in that important/not urgent quadrant. if something is urgent ... i'm there. i'll be emailing at 10pm and in the barn at 6am ... it's important and urgent let's figure it out and getter done. emails pop up ... i answer. grad students walk in ... i chat (and love it). interruptions occur ... i get distracted. urgent but not so important perhaps. trivial ... unfortunately i'm probably not that bad at this quadrant either. but man!! important and not urgent ... but faithfulness in the little things that will make a difference in the long run. .... it's a fight to be there. and i guess it shouldn't surprise me at all. it's never natural to fall into good, effective, quality, beneficial. just like if left alone i will fall into sin, not out of it.

so what is important? and how does important surpass urgent? (okay if there's a fire i should still put it out ... but there's still something to be said about fire prevention ... instead of fire fighting)

and perhaps it will always be a fight. and perhaps remembering some battles are worth fighting is part of that fight.