Essential Time Management For Startups

When it’s comes to time management there are two very important things to be said:

1. Important Due Soon -> Important Not Due Soon

We tend to work on ‘important due soon’ tasks first. Once we get those done there is a tendency to start working on the ‘not important due soon’ issues where in fact we should work on the ‘important not due soon’ ones. That’s the only way to get ahead on your timeline.

2. Schedule Time for Quadrant II activities

What we consider important is normally tasks where there is an action to be performed somehow (crises, pressing problems, deadlines, etc.). These are called the Quadrant I activities and what happens is that you end up never doing any strategic, planning (Quadrant II) activities. The strategic/planning stuff is the things that will “oil your windmill” or “sharpen the saw”. That’s why it’s a good idea to schedule some time every week to review your previous week, plan the week after and see how you are performing in accordance to your business plan or goals.