Focus On The Important Not The Urgent

by James Phillipson

Many executives wish that they had an extra hour in every day. However, I would bet that most of them would get very little that is really important done with that extra hour. The time would often get consumed by the same type of urgent issues that laid waste to the rest of the day.
 

The Challenge

For many people, the challenge is to separate the strategically important things that will provide your business with transformative growth from the tactics that are perceived as urgent because they are time sensitive.

Ensure that you manage your time so that you allocate a significant amount to focus on the tasks that will grow your business. The urgent will always be there and will consume all of your time, if you permit.
 

Decide

It is up to you to manage your time to enable you to focus on what is relevant to your personal growth and to the business growth. Just like anything else, this does require management. It is not surprising that if you do not manage your priorities, they tend to absorb all of your time without focus on those that are really important.

If you do not have a list, you really need one. Read and implement the strategies here.

Links

• Why urgent is not a priority (Inc, Jan 2012)
• Eisenhower's urgent versus important (Brilliant Time Management, Aug 2010)
• Important vs urgent: 5 ways to focus on what really matters (Pick The Brain, Apr 2008)
• Covey’s time management matrix illustrated with comics (Sid Savara)
• Do you delegate or outsource the wrong things? (Marketing Actuary, Feb 2012)
• From bucket list to balk-it list (Riscario Insider, Apr 2012)
• image courtesy of Lijuan Guo

James Phillipson is a Chartered Accountant and a Principal of Mastermind Solutions Inc. with over twenty years experience in large and small businesses. He has provided financial counselling to his clients since 1996, often in the role of a Controller or Chief Financial Officer, for both public and private corporate clients. James has experience in financial roles in a wide variety of businesses and industries. This includes several large corporations and many medium-sized public and private companies. James can be contacted at james@mastermindsolutions.ca or 905-731-8255. You’ll find more details on the Experion website and LinkedIn.