In creating balance in one’s personal/professional life, he or she must first prioritize their daily activities. Steven Covey presents the idea of a time management matrix in his book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” that assists in molding this critical balance.

By now, we realize the importance of time management and the imperative need to create a balance that is both beneficial and healthy. Covey recommends dividing everyday and unexpected tasks into four categories:

Important and Urgent
First and foremost are important and urgent tasks. These activities include crises, pressing problems, and deadline-driven projects. When prioritizing tasks, the important and urgent ones must come first.

Important and Not Urgent
Similar to the previous category, activities that are important however not urgent fall second in line. These tasks can include relationship building, planning, identifying new opportunities, and prevention.

Not Important and Urgent
Third on the list of priorities are the activities are not important but remain urgent. Interruptions, phone calls, certain meetings, some reports, some mail, pressing matters, and popular activities often fall into this category.

Not Important and not Urgent
Lastly are the not important and not urgent activities that can wait until last. These tasks include busy work, time wasters, come mail, pleasant activities, trivia, and some phone calls.

Covey’s quadrant, also referred to as the Four Generations of Time Management, helps an individual to organize and execute his or her tasks based on priorities. This technique promotes effective time management that overall creates a balance in one’s personal and professional lives.

Specifically, the quadrant is an excellent way to perform what Covey calls “personal management.” The idea is that each quadrant builds on the next. Therefore, as an individual completes the activities of the each quadrant, they gain momentum and move towards better control of their lives.

Covey also points out that people who spend most of their time in certain quadrants risk certain fates. For example, those who spend all their time in the first category are susceptible to stress and burnout whereas those who live in the worlds of categories three and four are more likely to be fired or simply depend on others a majority of the time.

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