Dave Ramsey Explains the Key to Time Management

[Music] So let's define what's important and what's not. You got to learn that.

what's not. You got to learn that.

So one of the perennial bestsellers that has been up there with Rich Dad Poor Dad, Total Money Makeover, now Atomic Habits has joined the ranks of that.

Staying on the Wall Street Journal advice bestseller list week in and week out has been Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Steven Cvy. I

Dr. CVY was alive years ago. I actually

got to hear him speak when that book was in the rage. He was over at Belmont University to do an event. I think there was about 500 in the audience and I watched him do this presentation that I

had read about in the book and uh so I give him full credit for this because it it really does shake up your whole paradigm on managing your time or

helping your team to manage their individual time or their project time on executing a full project if you've got if you're like we do a lot of stuff a

lot of work with technology stuff around here in squads. So squad time. What's

the squad working on? What's our forced ranking there? What what are we playing

ranking there? What what are we playing with? How many how many balls we got in

with? How many how many balls we got in the air before we drop one kind of a discussion before the synergy is overridden by the lack of focus in terms of creating something productive with a

squad. Even that we will use this

squad. Even that we will use this paradigm to look through and look at it.

He he put together a time quadrant and it's broken down into four boxes.

Uh quadrant one obviously is important and urgent. Two not urgent but

and urgent. Two not urgent but important.

Three not important but urgent. And four

is not urgent not important. So why

would you? But we do. So let's look at those for a minute.

It's easy to know what belongs in quadrant 1. You wouldn't be in this room

quadrant 1. You wouldn't be in this room if you didn't know how to get the quadrant one stuff done. you wouldn't be open, you'd be closed. Your business

would not be successful enough for you to take time off or afford the ticket to be here. So, quad one is it's it's just

be here. So, quad one is it's it's just a must. We know how to get the important

a must. We know how to get the important things done that are urgent. If we don't get them done, something bad happens.

You know, it's pretty simple. Or we miss out on all the good. Either one. And so,

it's something that is urgent. It's

important. It can be paying bills. It

could be collecting the receivable so we can make payroll Friday. We got to get this receivable in. This guy's got to pay his freaking bill. He's been

dragging it out for 60 days now. I got a cash shortage. I'm not his freaking

cash shortage. I'm not his freaking bank. He's my customer. We got confused

bank. He's my customer. We got confused somewhere. We got to deal with this. All

somewhere. We got to deal with this. All

right. That's a urgent important issue.

Um, if there's a a medical emergency, obviously you drop everything. It's a an urgent important issue. We're going to deal with whatever's urgent, whatever is important, and get those things done.

And you're pretty good at that. You

don't need, and most people are actually, even people you think of as time wasters, they generally get their quad one stuff at least to an acceptable level just to function as a human being.

But some people need help with it. There

we go. Then you can jump caddyy corner down to quad four. Not important and not urgent.

There's two things that happen here. One

is a complete and utter waste of time.

98% of interaction with social media, a complete and utter waste of time.

What some biddy in the HOA thinks is not of value to you whatsoever.

Read a book. You know, good lord. You

know, we're going to follow this Facebook group. And did you know, oh,

Facebook group. And did you know, oh, good lord, no thank you. Now, you can you can use social media for some things and use connect with groups and have a positive

experience. That's fine. But most people

experience. That's fine. But most people simply don't. Most people doom scroll.

simply don't. Most people doom scroll.

They just roll and roll and roll until they find something that lights them up in a negative way, fires their dopamine, and here we go. And then they keep going. So, be real careful with that.

going. So, be real careful with that.

Um, and you know, Sharon and I have just about quit watching television except sports. We watch a football game

sports. We watch a football game occasionally. I don't even watch those

occasionally. I don't even watch those as much. I used to. Um, but I mean, you

as much. I used to. Um, but I mean, you know, I did kind of go back once for a little while and I lost my man card cuz

I went through Downtown Abbey with her and that's a complete loss of I'll never get those days back and I will never get

that section of my pride back again, but I'm there. And uh, and yes, I did watch

I'm there. And uh, and yes, I did watch Tiger King during the Fouchy pandemic just like you did. And these are absolute lost days of my these I killed

brain cells that will never come back to life. And and so these are way we all we

life. And and so these are way we all we laugh about it because we spend I mean that is an hour. How many times have I watched Die Hard at Christmas? Oh my

god. You know as if I don't know how it's going to turn out. Let me tell you John Wick is going to kill a lot of people. I'll just spoiler alert. You

people. I'll just spoiler alert. You

know he can he can kill more people in 15 minutes than all have died in Vietnam. I mean it's never anything like

Vietnam. I mean it's never anything like it. And so, yeah, spoiler alert if

it. And so, yeah, spoiler alert if you're, you know, it's wonderful gun action, but oh my gosh. And so, all that stuff's fun. It's entertainment, but if

stuff's fun. It's entertainment, but if you live too much in there, pretty much you start to understand that for a lot of people, it's an escape mechanism, and they're not dealing with life. And so,

it is truly a time waster. The other

thing I had to discover about this quadrant is the quadrant says, it says uh not urgent, not important.

I had to discover that it might be important but not important that I do it.

That was a big breakthrough for me because I kept seeing things in there like, you know, we need copier paper.

That's important. You can't make a copy, but it's not important that I order the copier paper. You know, the uh the grass

copier paper. You know, the uh the grass needs to be cut at my house, but I cut enough grass, man. And I had a yard cutting business up up into college. I

cut enough grass by the time I was 18 years old. God said, "You never have to

years old. God said, "You never have to do it again."

And I haven't.

So somebody else cuts my grass. You

know, it's not It's important because it get up this high. Neighbors will be I'll be in the HOA biddy thing, right? And so

um but but uh but but it's got to get cut, but I don't have to cut it, right?

So it's so what that means is I'm delegating some tasks that do matter but by definition they're not important that

I do them. So they're not in my time quadrant at all but they would have landed in four were they to land

somewhere. Two and three are where you

somewhere. Two and three are where you can get your gains because most people don't just waste inordinate period amounts of time if you're successful.

You don't have a bunch of quadrant 4 stuff. You don't like know everything

stuff. You don't like know everything about every sporting team and watch every 18-year-old play football that's ever played. You don't you don't you

ever played. You don't you don't you don't you don't have all that sucking up all of your time. You're not spending 82 hours a week on fantasy on your fantasy football team. You may play it, but

football team. You may play it, but you're not spending 82 hours a week on it. You're not at that level, right? And

it. You're not at that level, right? And

so it's a little thing for entertainment, but we're not wasting inordinate amounts of time. We wouldn't be in here. So four

of time. We wouldn't be in here. So four

is pretty easy. One's pretty easy. we

got to get that stuff done or you wouldn't be in here. Those are pretty obvious things. Two and three are there

obvious things. Two and three are there where we can get gains or where you can lead someone on your team to get some gains because you may be thinking about somebody right now that you wish they

get a little bit more productivity, wish they were a little bit more on game. And

so that that this is where we pick it up. So three is urgent but not

up. So three is urgent but not important. And this is the tyranny of

important. And this is the tyranny of the urgent. the thing that's whoop whoop

the urgent. the thing that's whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop it's a smoke alarm with a battery out right it's driving you crazy but it's really

not important the house is not burning but the beeping's driving me nuts it's the tyranny of the urgent so if it's a task or a thing that's coming at you with that again we've got to delegate

that or we've got to change our systems where we're not even it's not even coming across my dashboard I'm not even seeing it where then it's not urgent because I don't even know it's

I quit doing it. So, I had a guy years and years ago um he was way ahead of his time on email and on ordering things online before anybody ordered anything

online. I'd never heard of anybody

online. I'd never heard of anybody buying anything online, much less ordering something online. And he had tires for his car delivered to the office. And I'm like, "Where'd those

office. And I'm like, "Where'd those come from?" He goes, "I ordered them off

come from?" He goes, "I ordered them off the internet." I'm like, "The internet?

the internet." I'm like, "The internet?

What? How? How do y'all?" And this same guy sit three days later I sit you know I sit 40 feet from him sent me an email

and I'm like hey I'm right here you could have you know just stick your head out the door and say hey you know he he was the first time I ever anybody ever sent me an email down the hall and now I

send like 4,000 a day down the hall right but cuz I it's just it's communication but in those days it was so foreign it was like you know it's call. It's like calling somebody that's

call. It's like calling somebody that's 40t away. To me, it was like, why would

40t away. To me, it was like, why would you do that? Just just say, "Hey, I you know, but he he wanted he wanted the stream of contact and me to be able to respond when I wanted to and and he you

know, but so that's a good thing." But

this same duber 5 years later, I was in his office and he had set up his inbox where when an email came in, it made

like a a NASCAR sound like coming into the pits, right? and he got like five emails. So, we had like five pit stops while I was trying to talk to him about something. And I'm like,

"Dude, that's the tyranny of the urgency. You got to cut that thing off."

urgency. You got to cut that thing off."

He's like, "Ding, ding. Turn the dad gum audio off on this thing." It cuz you cuz when it it happens, your brain, even if you don't physically turn because you have discipline, your brain turns and

goes over there and wonders what it is.

when it buzzes in your pocket, you know, you wonder who's texting you and it's it's actually somebody about your car warranty. It's, you know, and it's right

warranty. It's, you know, and it's right and you go, "Golly, that's the tyranny of the urgent." And so, you've got to turn off that the the the buzzing, the dinging, the the things that are coming

across your consciousness and interrupting you from doing the important things and taking your eye off the ball and causing you to drop the ball. Don't do that. You've got to be

ball. Don't do that. You've got to be real careful with your systems and processes to do that. And so, you know, we're in a meeting, six of us working on a project. Door to

my office is closed. My assistants next to me in the her door to her office is closed and nobody comes in there because we're working and and nobody all the

phones are face down. We're we're

working on that. If there's an emergency, she'll come tell us.

If something's up, she'll come tell us.

But we need full focus.

A and in quieter times in the world when you read like a newspaper back, some of y'all don't know what those are. Um we

used to get these things delivered to our homes and you'd sit on the front porch and your grandpa or your dad would do this, right? And there's actual news in there, not just uh made up stuff. And

um so uh uh it wasn't just a national inquirer about aliens or whatever, right? It was actual journalism back a

right? It was actual journalism back a thousand years ago. But those were quiet times. The rhythm of life, the rocking

times. The rhythm of life, the rocking chair on the front porch was completely different. So your ability to focus in

different. So your ability to focus in those days and learn something was much greater. Now it's harder to be as

greater. Now it's harder to be as productive because we can be very productive with all these tools, but they can also be a distraction. So, be

real careful with quadrant three.

Quadrant two is where all your gains come. This is a big dog. You need to

come. This is a big dog. You need to like circle that quadrant. I want to spend lots more time in there. The more

time you spend in there, the bigger your business is going to get, the better it's going to be run, the better your life is going to be in general. This is

something that is not urgent, but is important.

getting the budgets done, making sure your taxes are filed on time or early and paid because they've been funded throughout the year. You don't

have to think about it. It doesn't take up any stress or bandwidth in your emotions. It's an automatic thing

emotions. It's an automatic thing because we're doing it before we have to do it. We don't start the term paper the

do it. We don't start the term paper the night before it's due. We do it 6 weeks before it's due and then we forgot, oh yeah, I got to get it out of the drawer and turn it in the day it's due. We get

way ahead of the curve. If you don't change the oil in your car and keep it tuned up, which is a quadrant 2 experience, it is not urgent, but it is important, eventually the car will blow

up.

If you don't exercise and you overeat all the time, eventually you're going to be on the operating table having a bis a biscetctomy

called a heart attack, right?

Eventually. So, you're either going to exercise, you're going to manage your nutrition intake at some level, you're either going to do that or you're going to pay for it. So what happens is if you

don't take care of quadrant 2 things, they are important things, but they have the opposite of the tyranny of the urgency. There's nothing barking at you.

urgency. There's nothing barking at you.

It will move eventually into quadrant 1.

It will become urgent and important all of a sudden. When I was a kid, um, we were playing in the front yard and I

was about six years old and this grown man ran up our street.

He wasn't walking. He was running slowly up our street and he had on gray sweatpants and a gray sweat hoodie.

Looked like Rocky or something before Rocky was ever out, right? And I went inside. I told my dad, I said, "Dad, a

inside. I told my dad, I said, "Dad, a grown man just ran up the street. I've

never seen that before." Cuz the only people that ran were kids. Grown people

didn't run. And this guy ran up the street. And every morning, and it got to

street. And every morning, and it got to be like a thing in the neighborhood. It

was like a Everybody would come out on the porch and watch this grown man run.

It was like so foreign to us, especially a bunch of hillbillies. Like, why is he running? Nobody's chasing him. It's

running? Nobody's chasing him. It's

like, you know, and and finally somebody got up a nerve and figured out where he lived and stopped and talked to him and um he had had a heart attack and uh the doctor said, you know, if you

don't lose 150 pounds, you're going to die. And so he didn't care that he was

die. And so he didn't care that he was like a zoo animal that all the hillbillies are on the front porch watching run by. He didn't he was not taking a poll on what was important. He

knew what was important, but it had moved from quad two to take care of his phys physical body into quad one cuz you going to die if you don't do this. So

now he's out there running before there were any joggers if you've seen anchor man, right? Jogging, right? So um the uh

man, right? Jogging, right? So um the uh yeah, it was no such thing as jogging and we certainly didn't have any little short pants that we ran in and all this stuff. It was it was very strange and so

stuff. It was it was very strange and so but he didn't care. He wasn't taking a poll. It had moved for him into quadrant

poll. It had moved for him into quadrant one. So in business, this is cash

one. So in business, this is cash planning. You got to have cash. It's

planning. You got to have cash. It's

retained earnings. It It's a quad two.

Nobody talks about it till we talk about it. Until something happens, something

it. Until something happens, something blows up and you need some freaking cash. And and now we're I sure hope the

cash. And and now we're I sure hope the bank will take care of me since I'm on the ropes. That's a great time to go to

the ropes. That's a great time to go to a banker. They will take you down. So

a banker. They will take you down. So

end up owning your business. So So you got to do this stuff. You got to do this stuff. It is strategic planning. I make

stuff. It is strategic planning. I make

fun of myself all the time on that. But

strategic planning is it's not urgent, but it's important because if you'll just simply get up above the thing and go the quickest way to, you know, to Orlando, Florida by road is this interstate called I75 from Nashville.

Okay, let's get down there. Let's, you

know, you get up above it. You see, you don't have to go around and around and, you know, get stuck in a room and go backwards and backtrack. You don't have to do all these false starts, get trapped, have a bad, you know, there's a

straight line. And you can do this, but

straight line. And you can do this, but you have to get above it to work on your business as Gerber says instead of just in your business. His book, The E-Myth, talks about that a lot. So, we've got to

do the things that are not urgent, not important. Doing a will, doing an estate

important. Doing a will, doing an estate plan, succession planning, we talked about with a little bit last time with uh legacy. Those are all not urgent. I

uh legacy. Those are all not urgent. I

feel fine when we have the Dave Ramsey is going to die this year meeting which we have every year and we have all the leaders in the room and all the family in the room and we have a full plan if I die in the next 12 months here's exactly

what happens with this with this h this here's what happens with this here's I call it the Monty Python meeting I'm feeling much better it's just a flesh wound right and so but we do it every year religiously

because it's a gift to all the people that I love that that is all planned before it's urgent.

The press release to the to the press release to be sent out, the statement is already written. That's how thorough we

already written. That's how thorough we are. And then you don't think about it.

are. And then you don't think about it.

You can go and do other stuff and and it just goes straight through. Just go

straight through. So, and I'm there's nothing wrong with me. And I'm not going anywhere. I hope hope they don't fire

anywhere. I hope hope they don't fire me. Can't wait a minute. I don't can't

me. Can't wait a minute. I don't can't fire me. Okay. He's checking her.

fire me. Okay. He's checking her.