Three Words: the Power of "Not Right Now"

Last week I offered ideas to help you find motivators and get organized. Yet, this week I am suggesting you occasionally say “Not Right Now”.

Hmmm….. Are you wondering what changed my mind? Maybe the organizer is letting you off the hook this week and you get to goof off? Uh, no, nice try. “Find your Motivators” and “Saying ‘Not Right Now’” are both tools to move you along the path to getting things done and making your life better.

Time Management expert Steven Covey uses a grid to illustrate the basis for my Not Right Now Suggestion. He suggests there are 4 types of tasks, categorized by Importance and Urgency.

The grid reads:

1. Important, Urgent               2. Important, Non Urgent

3. Non-Important, Urgent       4. Non-Important, Non Urgent

My “Not Right Now” strategy focuses on taking care of the (#1) Important and Urgent things first, and safely keeping ideas that are important but not urgent.

Important and urgent tasks (#1) for me today were to meet a client deadline for publication, submit an ad for an upcoming charity event and follow up with an upcoming presentation host. As a self-employed entrepreneur, important and urgent tasks almost always have to come first. There is no one else to do the work, and my business and clients have to be my top professional priorities.

(#3) Non-important, Urgent tasks included responding to emails, and taking care of some filing so I could re-claim my work space. And these I did take care of, just to get them out of the way.

Next are the Non-urgent tasks, both important (#2) and non-important (#4), and that is where “Not Right Now” comes into play. I start a typical day with 2 or 3 Important and Urgent things that have to get done. As I work, I get ideas, great and sometimes not-so-great. They are all important, but they are rarely urgent. I want to respect and collect the ideas that come to me, but I don’t want to lose my focus on the current task. I jot them down, and get back to work.

Two professional organizers whom I really respect (Elizabeth Hagen and Barbara Hemphill) recommend keeping a pile of blank index cards close at hand as you work. As an idea or task pop into your head, jot it down on a card, a new card for each idea. When you are done with your current Important and Urgent task and can take a break, review the cards, act on the quick easy ones and sort the others into piles for when and how you need to act on them.

I use a notebook in the same way.  When I take a break from a project, I look at the ideas listed and put them where they will be most useful. Perhaps one of my Outlook to-do lists, or add it to my strategic planning file. If possible, I make the idea into an action item and attach it to a date and time, sometime in the future. The idea is important, but it is for later, “Not Right Now”.

“Not Right Now” has saved me recently, too.  Delaying a response to an email until I have finished my work helped me to collect my thoughts and respond reasonably.  Or I wait to act on an idea, and someone else acts first (woo
hoo!).

Collect and safely keep ideas and inspirations, but cut yourself some slack and recognize the power of “Not Right Now”. I would like to travel internationally, but not right now. I want to learn to play the guitar, but not right now. Perhaps I’ll get a tattoo, but not right now (Ok, I won’t get a tattoo, just wanted to see if you were all still paying attention). I want to change the world, but Not Right Now.

Respect your important work, but start identifying tasks that can wait a little while, and use the “Not Right Now”  tool to get things done.