"2nd
Component: Checkups" "3rd Component: Putting First
Things First"
Can't I
just wait until it breaks?.......
When
you buy a new car, there is always a schedule of preventive maintenance and
checkups, which if followed will lessen the chances of sudden breakdowns. I
understand the principle but I hate the inconvenience and expense of having to
take time out for these rude interruptions of my life.
Avoiding these however violates two of Steven
Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. The first habit is “To Be
ProActive, not ReActive”. In other words, you take care of the problem before
it is a problem.
The 3rd habit is to “Put First Things First”.
Dr. Covey explains that everything we do can be put into one of four quadrants.
Quadrant
I: Urgent & Important. Stop what you are
doing and take care of these! Major Inconvenience. Being Sick is one of these.
This is where the checkups of Quadrant II come
in. Checkups will avoid that dead battery and that Triple Bypass
Operation!!
Quadrant
II: Not Urgent but Important. This is where
we need to spend most of our time. This is where the Check Ups come in.
Quadrant
III: Urgent but Not Important. These are
demands made on us by other people.
Quadrant
IV: Not Urgent & Not Important. You will
waste your life if you spend most of your time in this quadrant!!!!
The lesson is obvious, we live and enjoy
our most productive lives if we are able to manage our time so that we spend
most of it in Quadrant II. Looking after our health
fits squarely into this quadrant. This is where we want to live.
The German Poet Goethe wrote, “Things which
matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least”.
To live otherwise invites a potential
breakdown/disaster at the worst possible moment. Triple Bypass Surgery is
very Inconvenient!!
Right now there is a warning light in my car
telling me a checkup is due. What a pain…..