look at this photo here we have two jars and in each jar we have sand gravel or pebbles small rocks and big rocks if you look at here the big rocks represent the big things in our life, the high priority things, the important things. The little rocks are, they are urgent or important, but they are not very, very important. and then we have the sand the sand represents not very important things if the big rocks don't go in first they are not going to fit in
later. And if you look at the first photo here and this one in this jar, everything fit, everything fit perfectly, right? The big rocks fit. the sand fit and the pebbles fit but in this one here this uh the big rocks didn't fit in the important things fit in and why well because they went in last you put them in last
And like I said, the big rocks represent the important things in our life, the most important things. And in our case, learning English. If you don't do them first... you will not be able to do them later and that's today's topic put first things first in this lesson you are going to learn how to put first things first and if you watch until the end and if you actually take notes and pay attention to the important things i guarantee you that you'll be able to change your life for the better
and you will start achieving your goals. You will start improving your English and do big things in your life by starting to put first things first. In order for you to do that, you have to put the big rocks in first. Now, listen, maybe you don't know what your big rocks are. Maybe you can't tell the difference between.
the important things in your life and the unimportant things and they're all mixed up including English like you think English is a very important goal for you but you're not sure or you don't look at it as a priority In this video you're going to learn about your priorities, your most important priorities.
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which are your time wasters. This is the problem. You know, maybe you're spending one hour on a task or on something that you think is important, but... It's not. So today, you're going to learn exactly what your big rocks are, how to recognize the important things that you need to do, and the unimportant things that you need to avoid.
the time wasters, the useless stuff that you waste so much time on, and how to recognize these four categories, these four things. And I promise you, this will help you organize your week. and your days and you will start putting first things first. This is this is really, really important because like I said, a lot of times you don't really know you're working on something.
that you think is important but it's actually not this table here this matrix will help you recognize what's important what's not important what are the things that you need to avoid what are the things that you are wasting so much time on the so this time management matrix That is in this book. All these ideas are from this book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I'm tailoring each habit from the book for English learners. We already did habit one, which is be proactive.
habit two begin with the end in mind and I will put the links in the description below and I will talk a little bit about each those first two habits but all the ideas are from this book but I am using them I am
helping you recognize the importance of these seven habits for you as an English learner. So now let's look at this time management matrix. Stephen Covey, the author, categorizes all of our... tasks are our daily activities or daily tasks into four categories into four quadrants four quadrants or categories quadrant one these activities
are urgent and important and then we have quadrant two these are activities or these are things that are not urgent but important and then we go down here for quadrant three These are things or tasks that are urgent but not important. And then we go here. These are things that... are not urgent and not important you first need to realize and recognize how you spend your time okay am i wasting my time right now or am i am i using my time learning something or am i just wasting it
You have to recognize, you have to start recognizing. And I made this time management matrix specifically for you for english learners to recognize your priorities your tasks what are the time wasters what are the important things that i need to do this will help you understand and do the things that you need to do first for example quadrant one things that are urgent and important these are tasks that need immediate attention
and have a big impact on your English learning journey. For example, preparing for a test, doing homework that is due tomorrow, right? Or practicing for a job interview in English. that is scheduled for tomorrow these are urgent and important now
Most people spend their time on these things, right? They think this is the most important quadrant. This is the most important priority or category, right? Maybe you spend all of your days on this. Why? Because of... poor time management now we go to quadrant number two these are activities that contribute to long-term success in english and other areas of your life
but they don't feel pressing. It's not like urgent. You know, these are not urgent things. Oh my God, I need to take care of this right now. For example, building a daily habit for reading English books. watching English video lessons like this one, practicing English with with a language partner or tutor regularly, like every day, or learning new vocabulary words and reviewing them daily.
Watching English movies or shows with English subtitles to improve your listening skills. Or writing a journal in English to improve your writing or... your vocabulary right these are not urgent it's not like oh my god i need to do this right now otherwise something crazy will happen or no but they are important now we go to quadrant number three These things right here, they don't contribute to your learning.
They don't benefit you. For example, responding to unimportant messages, emails, comments that don't help you learn English or accepting a friend's last minute invitation to a social event or, you know. He's inviting you for a dinner or some event last minute. Or helping a friend with their English homework while ignoring your homework or your own studies. You put someone else.
before yourself that's not good and then we go to quadrant number four these are distractions that don't add value to your english learning journey or your personal goals so for example scrolling through social media instead of practicing your English, just checking Snapchat, checking TikTok and just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling or playing video games or watching random YouTube videos that.
aren't really related to learning English or don't teach you anything valuable. Procrastinating on your English studies or a job interview that you have next day by doing any important tasks. doing unnecessary silly stuff right so the goal is to first recognize what what you are doing and how you're spending your time and most people so again most people Spend their time on quadrant one. Things that are urgent and important. So always on the run. Always on the run. Why? The reason.
You are always stressed and you're always behind on doing important things. You have homework that you need to submit tonight, but you haven't done it yet. It's because of what? You're not putting the big rocks in first, right? You're not putting the big rocks in first. And because of lack of time management, you're spending a lot of your time here while you should be spending it here.
long-term success long-term success this is the way to grow focusing on long-term success because if you don't you're always going to be running and you're always going to be rushing understanding and recognizing that there are four quadrants and this is how we all spend our days. We're either spending it on urgent and important things, always being on the run.
always feeling stressed because you have all these last minute things you need to do. Or we're spending our time on quadrant two, which are things that are steady. that are consistent but not urgent not like you have to do them right now or you're spending your time on just urgent things but they're not important or the last one which is the worst
This is a difficult thing to do because if you're spending a lot of time on quadrant three, that's because you're just saying yes to everything. You're saying yes to everybody. If you're spending a lot of your time on quadrant four,
That's just because you have no direction. You have no goals. You don't know exactly what your goals are. And you're just wasting your time. If you are spending a lot of your time on... quadrant one you are always stressed that's because you procrastinate so what you need to do is this first you have to decide what your big priorities are and have the courage
To say no. To say yes to the important things and to say no to other things like what I mentioned previously. So you have to start saying no to distractions, which are what? Quadrant four. and focus on what truly matters so start ignoring start saying no to this quadrant and start saying yes to this look at this here effective people are not problem minded
They're not problem minded. What is a problem minded person? A problem minded person is that if you tell them, oh, you need to do this, you need to practice every day, they say, oh, teacher, my problem is I don't have time or my problem is I don't have Wi-Fi at home. or I don't have Wi-Fi. So they have a problem for every situation. But effective people are opportunity-minded. They take the opportunity in every situation. So you have to see English learning as an opportunity.
Not as a chore. Not like, oh, it's a homework. Oh my God, I hate practicing English. Because I mentioned before, if you hate learning English, if you're a negative person, you're not going to learn. Right? You have to change your mind. The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing. I mean, it's, it's very simple. Your primary focus should be on activities that improve your English skills, which are what?
quadrant two. It's all about habits, consistency, and having a plan. If we don't practice habit two, begin with the end in mind. The cool thing about this book is All the seven habits are related and connected. So you can't master habit three if you don't master habit one, if you don't improve on habit number two or three or four or seven.
if we don't practice habit two which is begin with the end in mind if we don't have a clear idea of what's important of the results that we desire in our lives and we go back to focusing on what's urgent instead of focusing on what's important, then we are not going to get and achieve anything. You will not be able to finish the tasks that you have on quadrant two.
unless you move from being a reactive person to a proactive person. A reactive person is somebody who... always react to situations like you get a text you immediately react and check you receive an urgent email you immediately stop what you're doing and go to that right this is a reactive person A proactive person only focuses on what's important, not urgent. So they don't react to situations. Quadrant two is the heart of effective personal management. If you spend your...
Your time building a daily habit of reading English books, watching English video lessons, listening to podcasts in English, practicing speaking, recording your voice on your phone to practice. English, you're going to become unstoppable but not immediately, right? Because that's impossible. Here's an example. You're studying English and then you get a message from your friend saying, you have to come to my house right now.
all the guys are here you know we're all hanging out or all the girls are here we're hanging out you have to come what do you do like you're studying english right what do you do you have two options here you close the book or stop the video that you're watching or the lesson you're studying
and respond oh my god coming or you have another option what is the other option you don't respond immediately what do you do you ignore the message because you're studying right you're focused and you get a text oh I'm really busy. This is really important. My future depends on this. So I don't respond to this. I ignore it. And then later after I finish, maybe an hour later, I send a text and say, hey, man, sorry.
I was studying my English lesson. So maybe next time. This, by the way, is a very, very powerful move. And your friends will start respecting you more because you can't just... say yes to everybody and everything. You need to start saying no if you want to achieve the goals that you have. If I ask a student, bro, like why don't you study one hour every day? I promise you, you will become fluent in one year.
The student said, well, you know, I have a problem with time management and lack of discipline. But actually, according to Stephen Covey, that's not true. The problem is, as he says, Your priorities have not deeply planted in your heart and mind. What does that mean? Well, that means, for example, we're talking about
practicing English and learning English. You say English is important and you want to improve your English skills but you don't really feel that want in your heart or in your mind. Yeah it's not strong enough. The desire is weak. And that is the reason that you respond, okay, I'm coming, and then you just leave it. Because English is not important for you. You're not looking at it as a big goal. You have to plant this goal.
in your heart and your in your mind so here are some tools that are going to help you to actually plant this goal and master executing the goal right how can we plant this goal well first You need to write your mission statement. And I'm going to explain what a mission statement is. And second, you need to write your rules and your goals. And third, make a weekly plan. A mission statement is a clear...
concise statement that basically defines your goals, defines your purpose and what you want to achieve. It serves as a compass or a GPS. to guide your decisions and your actions your daily decisions your weekly decisions so for example as an english learner this is just an example you can personalize it you can make it the way that works best for you or that fits your personal goal. But an example for a mission statement would be my mission is to become a confident
and fluent English speaker by consistently practicing, by consistently practicing listening, speaking, reading, and writing every day. I will prioritize. I will make. my English learning journey number one to achieve my personal goals, my academic and professional goals while enjoying the journey. So you don't look at.
mastering the english language as a chore or as a homework oh my god i need to it's boring but i want to do it you actually decide to enjoy learning english so basically you're telling yourself and you're reminding yourself why you are learning English you put your specific goals in your mission statement why you want to learn English like what is your ultimate goal and what you can do daily to help you and to push you
to achieve this goal i recommend that you you write your mission statement in simple english focusing on your long-term vision your long-term plan you write your mission statement in your notebook so that whenever you open it you see it and this will remind you of your big goal the big rock you know what is it exactly that you want to achieve you need three things right
First one is your mission statement. The second thing, your roles and goals. Roles are different areas of your life where you have responsibilities, like as a student, as an employee, as a parent.
as a friend and you can't mix up these roles for example your role as a student is to to do your homework to submit your assignments on time your role as an employee is to to do the important things and perform the important tasks on time and to be a good employee goals are specific this is this is easy right your goals are specific measurable
results that you want to achieve in each role. For example, your role as an English learner is to learn 10 new vocabulary words every day or practicing English with a partner. uh once a week or twice a week your role as a student you write an essay or email without using a translator prepare a presentation for class or do the homework on time
Your role as a family member or a friend. You have a five-minute conversation with your friend and you do that in English. This will help you, right? And you catch up with your friend, but you're talking in English. You share something new that you learned in English with a friend or someone, right? These are what? Roles and goals. You have to know your roles and your goals. The goal is to not mix up your roles and do what you need to do in each role. Now we move on to the weekly plan.
This is something I learned in this book. I used to think that daily planning was important, but actually weekly planning is way more important and way more effective.
what is a weekly plan well a weekly plan is a practical tool to organize your time and make sure that you're focusing on what quadrant two activities it will help you align your daily actions your roles and your goals and of course it will help you align these with your personal mission statement the ultimate goal that you have so how can we create a weekly plan well you go back to your mission statement and you remind yourself of your purpose and now you make a plan how to achieve
what steps you need to take daily to get to your ultimate goal, right? And then you go and focus on only quadrant two activities. You block time for important but not urgent things like, for example, daily English practice, reading, speaking. I like this part here. He says, be flexible. but disciplined. So leave some room for unexpected tasks or emergencies. So like if one day you can't practice English, it's okay. Or one day you can't practice English in the morning. That's okay. You can do it.
in the afternoon or you'll do it next day so be a little bit flexible now this is a really good example on mondays 7 a.m you listen to an english podcast the english zone podcast That's the only one you should be listening to. While commuting, you know, on your way to work at 6 p.m., you practice English with a language partner for 30 minutes. Tuesday, 7 a.m.
you review 10 new vocabulary words. So you have your notebook, you have the words you have written down, you have the words written down. You just review them for like 10 minutes. 8 p.m., you write a journal entry to talk about... your day or what you loved about your day on wednesday 7 a.m so these are some examples and i will put the link to this article or this lesson in the description below so you can look at it yourself but
Really this, I like this here, like on Fridays, for example, you record a voice note in your phone to describe your week or how you did. Once you do this, you will start expecting more from yourself. Because now you have a list that you need to do. It's like even though you give it to yourself, but now it's an expectation and you want to go and check off these priorities that you have because.
if you don't do this i go back to the big rocks if you don't do this if you don't organize your time and make schedule for yourself what happens you will not have time you will not have time to to put in the big rocks now I mean, this is really, really simple. I broke it down for you. If you break down your goals into actionable steps and you check them out throughout the week, you'll become unstoppable.
Because really, it's all about consistency and balance. So if habit one says you are the programmer, because habit one is be proactive. You are responsible for your life and you are in charge of your life.
And habit two says, write the program. Go and write your life goal, your life mission. Think about your vision. Then habit three is, now you go and... run the program it's like a computer example that he uses in the book if you practice habit number one you will need to start deciding that you are the programmer you are the creator of your own life and then
You start working on habit two. Begin with the end in mind. Write the program. You write your goals. You write your ultimate goals and your vision, everything. And then... You start going to habit number three, which is what? You go and run the program. And that's it. So hopefully now you understand exactly how you're spending your time, what you're wasting it on. and how to fix that by only focusing on or mainly focusing on quadrant two, which are the things that are.
Important, but not urgent. And if you continuously work on this, you will not have anything left in this list because you'll always be ready. So that's all I have for you today. Now your homework is or what you need to do is. You go and make the plan. How do I end it? How do I end it? How do I end it? I mean, that's it. If you figure out the time management matrix. you're going to become unstoppable so thanks for watching if you like this video just let me know in the comments