The 5 Choices

1. Overcome the productivity paradox: Manage decisions, attention, and energy

It is both easier and harder than ever before to achieve extraordinary productivity and feel accomplished in our lives.

The productivity paradox stems from three challenges in today's world: an overwhelming flow of decisions, unprecedented attacks on our attention, and a drain on our personal mental energy. To overcome this, we must master decision management, attention management, and energy management. This allows us to focus on what's truly important amidst the constant barrage of information and tasks.

• Decision management: Discern between important and urgent tasks
• Attention management: Focus on high-value activities without distraction
• Energy management: Maintain physical and mental stamina for peak performance

By addressing these three areas, we can navigate the modern work environment more effectively, achieving extraordinary productivity and a sense of accomplishment in our daily lives.

2. Act on the important, don't react to the urgent using the Time Matrix

Q2 is the quadrant of extraordinary productivity because here is where you take charge of your own life and do the things that will make a real difference in terms of accomplishment and results.

The Time Matrix is a powerful framework for prioritizing tasks and activities. It categorizes tasks into four quadrants based on their importance and urgency:

• Q1: Important and urgent (crises, pressing problems)
• Q2: Important but not urgent (planning, prevention, relationship building)
• Q3: Urgent but not important (interruptions, unnecessary reports)
• Q4: Not urgent and not important (time-wasters, excessive relaxation)

The key to extraordinary productivity is to focus on Q2 activities. These are the tasks that contribute most to long-term success and personal fulfillment. By consciously choosing to spend more time in Q2, we can reduce the number of Q1 crises, eliminate Q3 distractions, and minimize Q4 time-wasters. This shift requires developing the habit of pausing to clarify and decide on the importance of tasks before acting on them.

3. Go for extraordinary by defining clear roles and goals

Remember, this is not about someone else's definition of extraordinary. It's about yours.

Define your key roles in life and work, then create specific Q2 Role Statements and Q2 Goals for each. This process helps clarify what's truly important to you and provides a framework for making better decisions about where to invest your time and energy.

Steps to go for extraordinary:

1. Identify your most important current roles (5-7 maximum)
2. Create a Life Wheel to visualize these roles
3. Evaluate your performance in each role
4. Craft Q2 Role Statements that articulate your vision of success
5. Set specific, measurable Q2 Goals using the "From X to Y by When" formula

By aligning your daily actions with these clearly defined roles and goals, you increase the likelihood of achieving extraordinary results and feeling fulfilled in all areas of your life.

4. Schedule the big rocks, don't sort gravel through effective planning

If you spend thirty minutes each week and ten minutes each day in Q2 Planning, you will dramatically increase your ability to be and feel accomplished at the end of every day.

Effective Q2 Planning involves prioritizing important tasks (big rocks) before allowing less important activities (gravel) to fill your schedule. This approach ensures that you focus on high-value activities that contribute to your long-term success.

Key elements of Q2 Planning:

• Master Task List: Maintain a single, trustworthy system for tracking tasks
• Q2 Time Zones: Proactively schedule blocks of time for important activities
• Weekly Q2 Planning (30 minutes):
  1. Review Roles and Goals
  2. Schedule the Big Rocks
  3. Organize the Rest
• Daily Q2 Planning (10 minutes):
  1. Close Out the Day
  2. Identify the Few "Must-Dos"
  3. Organize the Rest

By consistently practicing Q2 Planning, you create a self-reinforcing system that helps you stay focused on what matters most, even amid the daily flood of urgent but less important tasks.

5. Rule your technology, don't let it rule you with the Q2 Process Map

When we live in our Reactive Brain, we do things that take us away from the high-return productivity of Q2, and into the low-return productivity drains of Quadrants 1, 3, and 4.

The Q2 Process Map is a powerful tool for managing the constant flow of incoming information and tasks in our technology-driven world. It helps you make conscious decisions about where to focus your attention and energy, ensuring that you stay in Q2 as much as possible.

Key components of the Q2 Process Map:

1. Win Without Fighting: Automate and filter incoming information
2. Turn It Into What It Is: Quickly process tasks into your organizational system
3. Link to Locate: Connect related information for easy retrieval

Practical tips for ruling your technology:

• Create email rules to automatically sort and prioritize messages
• Use the "Core 4" system to organize information: Appointments, Tasks, Contacts, and Notes/Documents
• Establish clear protocols for communication within your team or organization
• Regularly review and optimize your technology usage to support Q2 activities

By mastering these techniques, you can harness the power of technology to enhance your productivity rather than allowing it to control your time and attention.

6. Fuel your fire, don't burn out by managing your energy

Being conscious and intentional throughout the day takes a lot of energy.

Energy management is crucial for maintaining high productivity and avoiding burnout. By focusing on five key drivers of mental and physical energy, you can sustain your ability to make good decisions and stay focused on important tasks throughout the day.

The 5 Energy Drivers:

1. Move: Incorporate regular movement and exercise into your day
2. Eat: Consume brain-healthy foods and maintain stable blood sugar levels
3. Sleep: Prioritize quality sleep for mental clarity and recovery
4. Relax: Practice stress-reduction techniques and schedule regular recovery time
5. Connect: Nurture meaningful relationships and social connections

Practical tips for each driver:

• Move: Take frequent breaks to walk or stretch, use a standing desk
• Eat: Choose complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and healthy fats; stay hydrated
• Sleep: Establish a consistent sleep schedule, create a relaxing bedtime routine
• Relax: Practice mindfulness or meditation, take regular vacations
• Connect: Schedule time for family and friends, engage in meaningful conversations

By consciously managing these energy drivers, you can maintain the mental and physical stamina needed to consistently perform at your best and achieve extraordinary productivity.

7. Create a Q2 culture to transform your organization

When a Q2 culture is in place, the most important things you are trying to achieve just got turbo-charged.

Building a Q2 culture in your organization can dramatically increase productivity and employee engagement. By institutionalizing the principles of the 5 Choices, you can create an environment where people naturally focus on high-value activities and feel more accomplished in their work.

Steps to create a Q2 culture:

1. Leadership-Team Orientation: Introduce the 5 Choices to top executives
2. Champion-Team Certification: Train internal coaches to facilitate implementation
3. Leader Training: Teach managers how to lead their teams in a Q2 way
4. Team-Member Training: Introduce the 5 Choices to all employees
5. Leadership Accountability: Regular check-ins on implementation progress
6. Reassessment: Measure improvements in Q2 time and energy levels
7. Sustainment: Ongoing support and reinforcement of Q2 principles

Key behaviors to foster in a Q2 culture:

• Regular Q2 Conversations in team meetings
• Clear Q2 Role Statements and Goals for all employees
• Consistent Weekly and Daily Q2 Planning
• Common technology protocols to reduce distractions
• High-energy behaviors supported by the 5 Energy Drivers

By consistently modeling and reinforcing these behaviors, leaders can create a self-sustaining Q2 culture that drives extraordinary productivity and results throughout the organization.

Last updated: February 28, 2025