After I graduated law school and started working, I thought my biggest hurdle to overcome to be successful would be becoming an expert at the area of law I would practice. So when I started working at Geraci LLP I was ready and eager to learn – I reviewed real estate treatises, asked a million questions of my senior colleagues, bought books about private lending, and tried to absorb as much information as I could. It quickly became apparent that to be successful I needed to do more than just learn and understand the ins and outs of real estate finance. I needed to learn how to maximize the time I spent at work to be as productive as possible – staying focused and on task would immensely help me to develop as an attorney.

As a firm we read a lot of self-help and professional development books. Some are more relevant than others, and a lot bring up concepts we have all heard before but perhaps in a new way that makes them seem easier to implement in your day.

Quadrants of Productivity

One book we read early on was The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, which brought up the concept of Quadrants of Productivity for different activities you complete during the day. I was exposed to the Quadrants concept previously, but this book shed new light on the activities I was completing at work. In sum, the four quadrants are:

Quadrant 1 – Urgent and Important

These are the “Do Now” tasks – for me, the emails related to a loan closing, a new file to forward to my team for review, or perhaps managing a client complaint. These are the tasks that come along that are extremely important for you to deal with and take care of immediately.

Quadrant 2 – Important but Not Urgent

These are the “Decide When to Do It” tasks – big picture planning, training, or other “working on the business” tasks. These tasks may not be urgent right now, but they are extremely important – and often will become Quadrant 1 tasks when you least expect it. We all put off training a new hire because we have a go-to person on our team that already understands what we need – and it’s easier and faster to send the work to them compared with the time and effort to get the new person up to speed. But when your go-to person gets sick, takes a vacation, or leaves, all of a sudden that training that was not urgent has become the number 1 issue for you to manage, and when you least expected it.

Quadrant 3 – Urgent but Not Important

These are the “Delegate” tasks – setting up the billing code for a new file, reviewing intake files for completeness, or first drafts of new documents. These are the incredibly urgent tasks that must be managed, but they are not of such importance that it is imperative for me to handle them. Another person on my team is likely the correct person to send these tasks to, and they are likely that person’s Quadrant 1 tasks based on their job description.

Quadrant 4 – Not Important and Not Urgent

These are the “Delete” tasks – reviewing junk mail, scanning social media, or sticking to old processes and procedures that are now defunct based on your current practices. Every once in awhile we all get stuck in our ways and hold on to old ways of operating that waste time and have been replaced by newer, faster procedures. It’s important to recognize when these tasks appear in your day so you can remove them from your schedule.

The Quadrants are an easy way to look at the various tasks on your plate and quickly decide (i) whether you are the right person to deal with the task; (ii) how quickly it will need to be completed; and (iii) if this task needs to be scheduled or deserves some follow up time. It’s important to realize that Quadrants 1 and 3 will rule your day, but that intentionally making time for Quadrant 2 tasks (and deleting ones in Quadrant 4) will ultimately free up your time and allow you to be more productive and focused while at work.

Biological Prime Time

Another book we read which was essential to helping me focus and manage my schedule was The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey. The main concept I pulled from this book was that of knowing what your “Biological Prime Time” or “BPT” is, and then scheduling your tasks accordingly. Your BPT is the time of day that you are most focused and productive – it may be first thing in the morning, late afternoon, or in the middle of the night. This time is relevant to YOU and only you, and it’s important to know when this is so you can schedule your most important tasks which require the most focus to occur during this time. For me, my BPT is in the mornings – usually between 8-11am. I try to avoid scheduling meetings or other tasks which do not require my best focus during these hours, and instead plan my Quadrant 2 activities to occur during this time.

Using the Quadrants and BPT to Become More Productive

Knowing what my most important tasks are and when I am most effective at working has been extremely helpful to manage my day so that I am productive and focused throughout. In addition to thoughtful scheduling and recognition of task types, I use several other resources every day to help me stay on target.

Time Sheet Task List

One of the more tedious administrative tasks attorneys do is time entry – keeping track of the hours you spend working on different projects so that clients are billed accordingly. Most attorneys I know dread the end of each month when their time entries are due and spend hours reconstructing the last four weeks of their life to account for all the projects they worked on. This is extremely inefficient and stressful, and leads to lost time – who can remember what they ate for dinner last night, let alone how long you spent on that email you sent three weeks ago? I keep an Excel sheet with my time entries on it for each day and update it as I complete tasks. Every night before I leave the office, I review my calendar and the projects I am working on the next day and add them to my time sheet task list – that way I know exactly what I am walking into in the morning. I then rank each item on my list based on (i) when during the day it needs to occur and (ii) how urgent or important the task is. My Quadrant 2 tasks have already been scheduled on my calendar along with other daily meetings, and then I flesh out the rest of my day with the other tasks that must get done. As the day progresses, I can reassess to make sure I’m on track, or if something is going to take longer to complete, I can reschedule and move things around. I’m always aware of whether I am pushing off Quadrant 2 tasks for Quadrant 1 or 3, and I always try to preserve my BPT for the tasks which are either the most important to deal with or the ones which require the most focus.

Office Hours

We have all been on both ends of the “Got A Minute?” conversation – either as the person swinging by with a quick question, or the person on the receiving end getting interrupted with an unplanned discussion. Sometimes scheduling a meeting with someone can be helpful, so both parties are able to prepare and be present for the conversation without putting aside another task. I have also tried scheduling “office hours” on my calendar for these moments – a 30 minute or one-hour block once or twice a day that is reserved for people to come by to ask their “Got A Minute” question. Sometimes these blocks work wonderfully and lead to fewer interruptions during your day because people aren’t swinging by at any moment. Other times these blocks are impossible to follow because emergencies happen on both sides – an urgent and important task pops up that you must handle, or a coworker has a time-sensitive question related to a file they are working on that can’t wait. That being said, forcing the use of the office hours whenever possible will make it so people are trained to show up during those set times – and reserve the drop-ins for only those truly urgent matters that cannot wait. This way you are interrupted less frequently and are able to stay focused and on schedule as you work through your day.

Working from Home

The last method of productivity I use on occasion is working from home. Sometimes I may have a large project that requires extreme focus, which is often difficult to find when working at a busy office. The ability to remove yourself from daily distractions – conversations in the kitchen or bathroom, drop-ins, and the general bustle of the office – can sometimes be essential to productivity. Working from home is not for everyone – some people are too distracted by pets, children, tv, or household chores to get the focus they need at home – but it is a viable option especially when you need to set boundaries to complete a project uninterrupted. The ability to plan a day to work from home once or twice a month allows me to take several Quadrant 2 projects and complete them in peace and free from distraction.

At the end of the day, everyone struggles with staying focused and being productive all the time. Learning key techniques that work for you are essential to becoming a productivity master and to get the most out of every day. Becoming the best at what you do requires conscious thought towards how you will accomplish your workload, and pushing off learning time management and task planning (a Quadrant 2 activity!) will eventually become an urgent and important task for anyone trying to take their career to the next level.