Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
Profhacker Logo

ProfHacker

Teaching, tech, and productivity.

Pause, Clarify, Decide

By Natalie Houston February 16, 2015
Bucket of rocks

Professionals in every field today often find themselves overwhelmed by the flood of incoming information, opportunities, and tasks. Most of us want to do more than just keep up with the inbox -- we have larger projects and goals we want to pursue, which sometimes get pushed to the side when we’re under the pressure of urgent deadlines and requests.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Bucket of rocks

Professionals in every field today often find themselves overwhelmed by the flood of incoming information, opportunities, and tasks. Most of us want to do more than just keep up with the inbox -- we have larger projects and goals we want to pursue, which sometimes get pushed to the side when we’re under the pressure of urgent deadlines and requests.

Stephen Covey’s classic productivity tool, the Urgent/Important matrix can be helpful in distinguishing between those activities that are urgent and those that are important. A nicely updated version of this matrix is at the center of the recent book The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity, by FranklinCovey experts Kory Kogon, Adam Merrill, and Leena Rine. In this updated matrix, titles have been added to the four quadrants that summarize the kinds of activities found there. Thus quadrant 1 (urgent and important tasks) is called necessity; quadrant 3 (urgent but not important tasks) is called distraction.

The majority of the book focuses on strategies for maximizing the time you spend in quadrant 2, which they have named the quadrant of extraordinary productivity. The tasks in this quadrant are important, but not urgent -- they are the things that will make the most difference to your work or your life in the long run, but because they are not urgent, they are also the activities that are most likely to be put off. (A FranklinCovey global study found that most professionals were only spending about 30% of their time working in quadrant 2.)

matrix

The book’s chapters are organized around 5 choices they recommend in the areas of decision, attention, and energy:

  • Choice 1: Act on the Important, Don’t React to the Urgent
  • Choice 2: Go for Extraordinary, Don’t Settle for Ordinary
  • Choice 3: Schedule the Big Rocks, Don’t Sort Gravel
  • Choice 4: Rule Your Technology, Don’t Let It Rule You
  • Choice 5: Fuel Your Fire, Don’t Burn Out

The book as a whole provides a valuable set of core principles for improving personal productivity, which feed into the process they call Pause-Clarify-Decide -- training yourself to pause and think about what you’re doing, rather than just mindlessly reacting. Stopping to ask yourself periodically “what is the value of what I am doing right now?” can break you out of simply responding to crises or the trance of social media and help you redirect your attention to the most important tasks.

ADVERTISEMENT

Some of the topics covered in the book include defining your key roles and connecting them to your important values; scheduling your most important projects first; the importance of weekly and daily planning; setting up your productivity systems; and managing the stream of incoming information.

Particularly helpful was the discussion of what the authors term the Core 4: the four kinds of information you need to manage:

  • appointments
  • tasks
  • contact information
  • notes/documents

Your productivity system needs to include a calendar, a task list, a contact list, and a system for notes and documents -- and only one of each of those things, to avoid duplicating effort or losing information.

Using the Core 4 as a framework for processing email, for instance, helps you to easily identify whether there is valuable information in an email and where to put it.

Sidestepping the details of particular apps or tools in favor of clear principles and processes, this book would be of value both for someone new to the idea of creating and maintaining a productivity system, as well as for seasoned productivity enthusiasts who want to refine their approach. A preview of the book is available at the FranklinCovey website.

ADVERTISEMENT

Have you read The 5 Choices If so, what are your thoughts?

[Illustration of the importance of scheduling big rocks first from The 5 Choices.]

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
Duke Administrators Accused of Bypassing Shared-Governance Process in Offering Buyouts
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption
WASHINGTON, DISTICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES - 2025/04/14: A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator holding a sign with Release Mahmud Khalil written on it, stands in front of the ICE building while joining in a protest. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in front of the ICE building, demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil and all those targeted for speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Protesters demand an end to U.S. complicity and solidarity with the resistance in Gaza. (Photo by Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
An Anonymous Group’s List of Purported Critics of Israel Helped Steer a U.S. Crackdown on Student Activists

From The Review

John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson
Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin