by Jackie Deal
What would Amber say? Amber is my black and white tuxedo cat. Beautiful shimmery, black with just enough white. What does she say? Amber wisely seldom, almost never, says anything. Would that I could learn from her. I’ve just been to a meeting where I said too much. Amber would know better.
The only time she talks is when she wants her treats. Those teeny, tiny, fish flavored treats. (She recently refused to eat the chicken flavored ones.) Those treats, some people have said, they’re like cocaine for a cat, they’re her daily delight. She meows when she want them. She wants them and right now!
Why can’t I learn from her? I recently read; I’ll tell you who it’s attributed to after I describe it. There’s a four-way matrix for decision making. The first is things that are important and urgent. (Now then might be a good time to speak up.) The second is things that are urgent but not important. That one’s a little harder for me to comprehend.) The third is things that are Important but not urgent. And the forth is things that are neither. (I tend to waste my breath on those.)
Think about it. There are dozen of examples in our everyday life. We spend far too much time agonizing over the fourth dimension. What about the other three? I’m going to try to apply that to leading Jacks and Jill’s in the coming year. We need to focus on first of all the important and urgent things and probably the others will fall into place.
Who developed this matrix? A man who used it in making decisions relating to World War II and the presidency of the United States, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. If it was good enough for him, maybe it’s good enough for us.
Jackie great story. The important stuff is always first. No matter what it is if you put it first it’s obviously important.