If you can take one very big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) and break it down its many smaller goals the result is what’s called the snowball effect. Once you complete the first small goal, you get a mental boost to complete the next. And then the next. Before you know it, you’ve accomplished something and it doesn’t feel all that big anymore. Often times you’ll look back and think the hardest part about the BHAG was getting started. It really, truly is about micro goals. This is How to Set SOC Analyst Goals?
I would also tell you that a successful career is about choosing your tasks and the time you spend on them with tact. What I mean by that is everyone seems to be always overworked and those who excel are those who can prioritize and deliver on the tasks that give the most bang for the buck. There isn’t enough time in a two lifetimes to complete everything that I’ve been asked to do in my career. At times I’ve been asked to do things that no one cares about and that’s the last I ever hear about it. It would take me days to do it and it would interfere with more important things to do. Then I get asked to do something that is easy to do that ultimately lands on the CEO’s desk. Which one of those two do you do? Its a no brainier, you smash the task and over deliver on the vision of the executives.
The Eisenhower Matrix is a task management tool that helps you organize and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance. Using the tool, you’ll divide your tasks into four boxes based on the tasks you’ll do first, the tasks you’ll schedule for later, the tasks you’ll delegate, and the tasks you’ll delete. In this piece, we’ll explain how to set up an Eisenhower Matrix and provide tips for task prioritization.
Making a to-do list is the first step toward getting work done. But how do you determine what to tackle first when you don’t have enough time to do everything in one day?
With effective prioritization, you can increase your productivity and ensure that your most urgent tasks get immediate attention.
The Eisenhower Matrix is a task management tool that helps you distinguish between urgent and important tasks so you can establish an efficient workflow.
Dwight D. Eisenhower — the 34th President of the United States and a five-star general during World War II — presented the idea that would later lead to the Eisenhower Matrix. In a 1954 speech, Eisenhower quoted an unnamed university president when he said, “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”
Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, took Eisenhower’s words and used them to develop the now-popular task management tool known as the Eisenhower Matrix.
The Eisenhower Matrix is also known as the time management matrix, the Eisenhower Box, and the urgent-important matrix. This tool helps you divide your tasks into four categories: the tasks you’ll do first, the tasks you’ll schedule for later, the tasks you’ll delegate, and the tasks you’ll delete.
Urgent tasks require your immediate attention. When something is urgent, it must be done now, and there are clear consequences if you don’t complete these tasks within a certain timeline. These are tasks you can’t avoid, and the longer you delay these tasks, the more stress you’ll likely experience, which can lead to burnout.
Like the Executive high-visibility request above. OVER deliver on that.
Important tasks may not require immediate attention, but these tasks help you achieve your long-term goals. Just because these tasks are less urgent doesn’t mean they don’t matter. You’ll need to thoughtfully plan for these tasks so you can use your resources efficiently.
Quadrant 1: Do
Quadrant one is the “do” quadrant, and this is where you’ll place any tasks that are both urgent and important. When you see a task on your to-do list that must be done now, has clear consequences, and affects your long-term goals, place it in this quadrant.
There should be no question about which tasks fall into this quadrant, because these are the tasks that are at the front of your mind and are likely stressing you out the most.
These are the phishing emails to executives.
Quadrant 2: Schedule
Quadrant two is the “schedule” quadrant, and this is where you’ll place any tasks that are not urgent but are still important. Because these tasks affect your long-term goals but don’t need to be done right away, you can schedule these tasks for later.
You’ll tackle these tasks right after you tackle the tasks in quadrant one. You can use various time management tips to help you accomplish the tasks in this quadrant. Some helpful strategies may include the Pareto principle or the Pomodoro method.
These are your development goals.
Quadrant 3: Delegate
Quadrant three is the “delegate” quadrant, and this is where you’ll place any tasks that are urgent but not important. These tasks must be completed now, but they don’t affect your long-term goals.
Because you don’t have a personal attachment to these tasks and they likely don’t require your specific skill set to complete, you can delegate these tasks to other members of your team. Delegating tasks is one of the most efficient ways to manage your workload and give your team the opportunity to expand their skill set.
As a junior SOC analyst, theres no one below you. If you have an MSSP, it would be a good time to see if the tasks can be delegated to them. But, you do have teammates, and you should act like a team. If you pick up a ticket and someone else is already halfway through working on a similar ticket, don’t be shy and ask them if they’d like to work on this one too. It makes their metrics look better and keeps the SOC efficient.
This is queue management
Quadrant 4: Delete
Once you’ve gone through your to-do list and added tasks to the first three quadrants, you’ll notice that a handful of tasks are left over. The tasks left over are tasks that weren’t urgent or important.
These unimportant, non-urgent distractions are simply getting in the way of you accomplishing your goals. Place these remaining items on your to-do list in the fourth quadrant, which is the “delete” quadrant.
But remember, if something you deleted keeps popping back up on your radar, its time to reevaluate the importance of the task.
These are special projects that you don’t have any time for
Zig Zigler will say “You can have everything you want in life, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
I will always encourage people to ask me for things because I believe in the motto, “If you never ask the answer is always no”, and I’m not afraid to say no. So prioritize correctly, get more done, and push the envelope sometimes in your career if you deserve it.
Tyler Wall is the founder of Cyber NOW Education. He holds bills for a Master of Science from Purdue University and CISSP, CCSK, CFSR, CEH, Sec+, Net+, and A+ certifications. He mastered the SOC after having held every position from analyst to architect and is the author of three books, 100+ professional articles, and ten online courses specifically for SOC analysts.
You can connect with him on LinkedIn.
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