I read a very interesting post on Seth's Blog this morning about setting your agenda. As business owners, we all have urgent matters and important matters. But what's the difference?
Urgent matters are those tasks that we usually consider a priority: calming down an angry client, responding to a time-sensitive opportunity, etc.
Important matters, however, often get overshadowed by the urgent matters. Yet, important matters can be critical to your success.
Here's a great example: a client of mine is really excited about writing a new vision for her business. This is crucial to her success. She has to know what she wants from the business in order to recognize opportunities that present themselves, among other reasons.
She talks about putting her new vision on paper all the time! Her plan is to take a day out of the office, go to her favorite park, and write, write, write! She needs to flush out her ideas and put them all down on paper. It's really important to her, and to the business.
Yet, for weeks, she has been putting this day off. Why? Because urgent matters keep getting in the way.
Normal business owner anxiety, which is made slightly worse by her ADD and anxiety, tells her that she needs to have an empty email Inbox before she can take a day out of the office. And as long as she keeps allowing those urgent matters to get in the way of the important ones, she will remain in the place where she is: answering emails. The business won't grow, and neither will she.
Comments