This lesson is about a very practical tool called the decision grid. You'll find it on page 15 of your workbook. Now, overall, this course is about principles and a process for developing a life plan. But now I'd like to just present a very practical tool that I and many others use to make decisions about what we're going to do and what we're not going to do. We all struggle with the conflict between what's urgent and what's important. And often they're not the same thing.

So here's the grid that I use and others use to make decisions. You'll see it's a two by two matrix on the vertical line we have on the bottom what's not important and what is important is on the top and on the bottom, on the left, we have what's urgent and on the right what is not urgent. So here's how it works. If something is urgent and important you need to do it right now. If something is urgent but not important, you may think about delegating it to somebody else, either in your family or at work. If something is important, but not urgent, we can naturally delay it and do it later, we can put it on a list.

And finally, if something is not important, and not urgent, we might want to consider dumping it simply deleting it, not doing it. So here's the principle of this lesson. Do not let the urgent and unimportant control your life, it will eat you alive. Make sure that you're focused on the things that are important in your life. So here's your assignment. For this lesson.

I encourage you to practice using the decision grid to make personal decisions. You make them all the time. We're making decisions all day. Long practice using this grid to make those decisions. Remember immediate application is key in the learning process. Now the next lesson, we're going to talk about a very important principle in life planning and that is what are your areas of focus