As a small business owner, you’re torn on a daily basis between competing priorities. How do you decide? The more successful your business gets, the harder your choices become.
It isn’t just about managing your time–though that’s certainly a part of it. Here you’ve got to be realistic, not perfectionist, or you’re doomed to fail. We all know we’re supposed to start with our goals–Dr. Stephen Covey (who, by the way has heartily endorsed the book I co-authored with Brian Tracy and others called “Create the Business Breakthrough You Want”) wrote about the four types of priorities: urgent but not important, urgent and important, not-urgent but important, and not-urgent and not important. Sounds simple, right?
Well, let’s face it. We all have unconscious agendas going on when it comes to allocating time. You may have that clear “urgent and important” goal sitting right in front of you, and choose to sharpen your pencils or get another cup of coffee. What’s going on? Procrastination is not a crime–it’s a fact of life for most people. Here’s a nice clean definition: a way of distancing oneself from stressful activities. We all would rather do the easy thing than the hard thing.
So here’s a very useful suggestion from a website designed to help college students prioritize their time better.
If you’re overwhelmed by the volume of work on your to-do list, you might benefit from making a “one-item list”: re-write the top item from your list at the top of a blank page and work the task to completion, then repeat.
I like this one. I’m going to try this today. Let me know if it works for you.