But let me tell you about my own little boxes. The first thing I had to acknowledge is that I am a bit of a maverick by nature. I don’t go with the flow easily and generally I just want to enjoy life and especially the people who cross my path.
I definitely don’t “box†people, and whilst I do occasionally judge (as we all do), I tend to have much compassion for everyone, whether I like their shoes or not! (But more about this later...)
I have often said that putting all my friends in one room is simply asking for disaster as they are such a disparate bunch. Different language cultures, different race groups, across all religions and age groups. So boxes don’t do it for me.
Then comes the discipline. The discipline of eating correctly, exercising regularly, planning your social interactions, doing your budgets etc. These routines simply floored me as a younger person as it felt that I was being controlled by a bunch of “they say,†people. Couldn’t they see? Life is here to be enjoyed.
But being actively resistant to the thought of any box whatsoever simply did not enable me to reach the goals I had wanted to, so I decided that the only boxes I could conform to would definitely not give me the feeling of being boxed and if those were not available, I would have to have at least some choice of boxes at any given time. And then I came into contact with the Time Matrix. A tool that allows us to distinguish between what is urgent and important and to live our lives according to one of four boxes, depending on the goals we have set for ourselves over any given period. This works for me.
Today as I prepare my time matrix for the next month, I feel quite proud and liberated at the discipline I have achieved as a result of the Time Matrix. You see, my mom always told me that you never trust a man who wears white shoes as he is definitely a player. This advice went against my natural instinct to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and I often thought how very rude it was to automatically write someone off just because of his possibly poor fashion choice.
Well, the time matrix enables me to encompass all of the possibilities out there, choose their importance in my life and not dismiss out of hand those that may come with a preceding reputation.
But right now I have to prepare for three days away from the office so no more of the mulling, time to cross off “blog writing†from my first quadrant – the one we reserve for WIGS, our Wildly Important Goals for the week.
© Debbie Engelbrecht
Debbie is the CEO of Staff Training, a soft skills training company offering more than 60 short courses including a suite of management and leadership options. Find out more here.