Welcome to another episode of the Your Next Best Step Podcast. This week we have our very first guest ever, my husband, Dennis. Joining us are our two new puppies sitting by our feet while we chat. I talked Dennis into coming on because he is a projects manager for a software company and deals with all types of mergers and keeping things in order.
Today, the topic I want to discuss is what is urgent versus what is important. Being an entrepreneur, or a project manager, we will get into this state of working where we wake up and immediately have to start putting out all these “urgent” fires. Before we know it, there’s no time left to get to the things that really need to get done: the important things.
There’s three things that need to be super clear before you can stop letting other people dictate what your day is going to look like:
- Understanding your priorities. What is the vision you have set for yourself and your business?Know what it is you are doing and why you are doing it. From there, you figure out the things that absolutely must be done to reach your goals and make sure they are tended to.
- Setting boundaries. Your time is one of the most valuable things you have. Make sure you leave yourself enough to get done the things you need to get done and don’t let anything or anyone else interfere with that time by setting specific times for meetings, office hours, and hours where you need to be left alone.
- Having a process. How you set goals and go about reaching them is all a part of your signature process. It’s something a lot of people can struggle with, but when you gain the clarity to know where you are and where you want to be, you begin to develop that process of getting yourself there. That is more important than the goal itself.
Communicating all of these things to your team and staff is just as important. When everyone is aware of who’s working on what and when, it leaves less opportunity for confusion and let-downs. Something may be urgent to someone else, say if they forgot to have you sign off on something, or they need it done at a certain time so they can leave for vacation. But if you have clear expectations laid out for yourself and everyone else, you know what needs your attention most and when, and the rest simply just needs to wait. Goals cannot be met if our time is spent cleaning up everyone else’s messes first.
These “fires” that constantly need to be put out by you are distractions. Part of having awareness of what your priorities are and setting boundaries for yourself, is being able to weed out what your distractions and interruptions are. The biggest thing I see people doing that is a huge distraction is checking your phone first thing in the morning. You haven’t even fully woken up yet and you are already being flooded with issues that need your assistance. Give yourself time both in the morning and at night to either unwind or prepare yourself for your day. Nothing will throw you off track more than distracting yourself with issues that are not important to your main goals.
This is the perfect example of urgent vs. Important. You wake up to an email thread of people throwing things back and forth every other minute and it’s a bit overwhelming. Instead of reacting to whatever the conversation is about, give yourself time to respond instead. By rule of thumb, I give myself 90 seconds. If after those 90 seconds you still feel that it is important enough of an issue to respond, by all means. But if it can wait, then it can wait until you have time to focus your attention on it. Reacting will only keep you in a place of fear and uncertainty, whereas taking the time to think and respond will keep your head clear and on-track.
Having a plan for your day will help you to avoid these distractions much better. I know of many business owners who wing it on a daily basis. What happens when they do this is they get stuck. They’re stuck in an endless stream of opening emails and dealing with whatever circumstance is thrown their way. Instead, we have to take control of our day. We have to know what exactly we need to accomplish day-to-day or we won’t be able to move forward.
Part of this daily plan is where setting boundaries comes into play. Let your team know when they can reach you and when you are not to be disturbed. This allows you the time to tend to both the things you absolutely must get done and the urgent things that you may be able to help with.
Many of us entrepreneurs can be people-pleasers. We want to help anyone and everyone, even if it means leaving us stressed and anxious and working long hours. But if we burn ourselves out like this, we end up pleasing no one. Our goals aren’t being reached, and the list of problems from others will always be endless. Listening to your own gut and, again, taking those 90 seconds to determine whether or not to respond to an issue right away, will save your mental health a lot of grief.
Always come back to why you started. What is it you want to accomplish? How are you going to go about getting there? If when planning out your grand vision you come across things that don’t help your journey towards success, they’re only hurting it. Putting yourself first and foremost is what needs to happen to ensure a happy, healthy, and thriving business place for all.
If you want to learn more about how to focus on what really is important and letting go of the urgent stuff, but build momentum, get stability back in your business, and really start to move things forward by creating a plan with the right strategy and the right tools, I’m going to be doing my Business Resilience Blueprint workshop again next week. You can register for it and gain access to a five module lesson plan, which is the same content that we’re going to be doing live in the workshop, that you’ll have access to for a lifetime.
If you enjoyed this episode and in some way it inspired you to start taking action, I’d love to hear about it and know your biggest take away. Send me a DM on Instagram @theresacantley and let me know what your favorite part was.
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Episode 73 – How Being Busy is a Giant Distraction for Getting Results
Episode 72 – Be More Present and Build Better Relationships By Setting Healthy Boundaries
