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In David Allen’s latest book, Making It All Work, he presents what he calls The Self-Management Matrix.

The matrix contains 4 quadrants constucted on the axes of Control and Perspective.

The 4 Quadrants

1 // The Victim/Responder

A person who has little control and little perspective. At the mercy of outside forces. Operates in crisis mode. Deals with the latest and the loudest. Tries to just keep the ship afloat.

2 // The Micromanager/ Implementer

A person who operates with a high control factor, but lacks perspective. Inordinate emphasis on structure, process, and system. Tendency to overorganize.

3 // The Crazy Maker/Visionary

A person who has a high level of perspective, but a low level of control. Too many ideas on proportion to the amount they can get done. Takes on too many commitments. Their systems and behaviors are not functioning to capture and contain all of their creative output.

4 // The Captain & Commander

Incorporates a balance of perspective and structure, where an internal rather than an external source directs your energy and focus. Committed to a course and prepared to make the slightest corrections that may be required.

I find Allen’s Self-Management Matrix interesting.  In the workplace, we are so often focused on managing teams, managing products, and managing projects that we sometimes forget about managing ourselves.  Self-management might be the most important management that we do.

Personally, I spend a lot of time in the Crazy Maker/Visionary quadrant.  I’ve got ideas, tons of them.  But I often don’t have the time, discipline, or control to implement all of them.  I sometimes have a hard time focusing.  I jump from one big idea to the next.  Interestingly, I think I also spend a lot of time in the Micromanager/Implementer quadrant.  I spend so much time working on the structure, process, and systems for managing our products and projects that sometimes I lose sight of the true reason for doing so.  I let form overtake function.

So what about you?  What kind of self-manager are you?  Where do you fall on The Self-Management Matrix?

Also, be sure to check out the David Allen: What Kind of Self-Manager Are You? feature on the BNET website where you can find a lot more information on the 4 quadrants of The Self-Management Matrix.

For all you Getting Things Done / David Allen fans out there, be sure to check out the Time Management blog on the Business Week website.  David Allen is now a contributor to that blog.

For all of you who aren’t good at getting things done and don’t know who David Allen is then you should read David Allen’s book called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

You, your email inbox, and your to-do list will thank me.

I have a process for work email that used to work fairly well.

I like my Inbox to be an Inbox…….not a Stay There For a Long Time Box.

An email comes in…..

• I skim through it.

• If the email requires nothing from me and I don’t need it for future reference, I delete it.

• If it requires a response or a quick action that takes less than 1 minute of my time, I go ahead and do it immediately.

• If it requires a response or action from me that takes longer than 1 minute, I copy it into a Task for me to work on at a future time.

• If it doesn’t require action from me, but I could need the email for future reference I move it into an archive folder.

Unfortunately, that process isn’t working anymore.

I am drowning in email.

I have to try something different. Maybe set aside certain times of the day to process email.

Anyone else drowning in email? Any suggestions?

Ran across this quote from Steve Jobs of Apple…..

“Apple is a $30 billion company, yet we’ve got less than 30 major products. I don’t know if that’s ever been done before. Certainly the great consumer electronics companies of the past had thousands of products. We tend to focus much more. People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

There is power in the ability to focus.

• Any projects in your organization at work that someone should say ‘No’ to?

• Any tasks or meetings in your daily schedule that you should say ‘No’ to?

• Any chores or activities in your household that you should say ‘No’ to?

• Anything in your family budget that you should say ‘No’ to?

• Any ministries that your church should say ‘No’ to?

Not because they are bad, but because they are good…..and they are preventing you from focusing and doing something great.

Lifehacker is one of most popular blogs on the internet, so many of you are already familiar with its awesomeness.

Lifehacker took a lot of the great tips and tricks from the blog and put them in a book called Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better.

They posted a great post today that provides a bunch of links to the same info that makes up the book…….

The Best of Lifehacker in Upgrade Your Life