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Priorities

You may delay, but time will not.
- Benjamin Franklin

Frequently I have heard entrepreneurs talk about the limitations of money, employees or infrastructure in the growth of their businesses. In my mind, it is not these objects, which really limit them; it is their own time. We all have limited time that we must spend in the best way possible.

In order to be successful in business or personally, we must harvest as much value as possible from our limited time each day. It is not the number of things that we have done which add value to our business; rather, it is how far we have moved the firm to accomplish its goals.

I have seen so many entrepreneurs (now everyone is going to think that I am writing about them) who attack what is the most urgent not what is the most important. They enjoy staying busy, but this is not really helping them reach their goals. Sure a customer calling in about not getting delivery is urgent, but it may not be the most important thing for you to be doing at this time.

How do you separate what is urgent from what is important? I think the answer is to have very clear: set goals for your company and yourself. We are all going to be pulled off the path by people and things demanding our attention, but it is the focusing on the goals that allows us to prioritize our time.

Many firms set out so many goals for the business, but the entrepreneur does not specify and prioritize what she/he is going to do in each month or in each day to accomplish these. A "to do" list normally does not focus on what is important; rather it focuses on what is the most urgent. "To do" lists really keep us from focusing on the big picture.

I encourage you and implore you to establish business goals by the years, then by each month, and then by day. From the business goals, the entrepreneur must take responsibility for accomplishing certain tasks. For example if we are going to increase sales, we must have new sales employees in place in months 3 and 6. Therefore, the entrepreneur must assign certain tasks to get done in a certain month before the position needs to be filled (e.g. advertise for the position, interview potential candidates). Obviously, there is going to be a lot of things for the entrepreneur to do each and every month. From this list of critical elements to be accomplished, you must assign some specific time during the month for this activity to be accomplished.

What I am really arguing for is for you to take charge of your time rather than letting external factors grab it away. Sure people need to see you and you need to talk with customers, but your number one job is to move the business forward. You move your business forward by having very clear-cut goals for yourself and then allocating specific time "each" day to make progress on these important issues. After all, if you do not have time to insure that your business meets it's goals, who will?

By focusing on the most important thing for you to be doing, you will move you and your business forward.