Priorities— Your Way

In my previous post for the new year, I talked about asking the right questions. The second part of that is setting the right priorities.  I'm sure you've read about a million different ways to prioritize your work lists.  But there is a key part of that which is usually overlooked.  That's what I want to write about today— defining priorities your way.  That makes all the difference to a small business owner or anyone who has responsibility for the bottom line.  Let's look at the components of this. 

First you have to have a way to rank priorities.  I use this method but if you have a preferred method use that.

I determine whether it is: 1-Important and urgent; 2-Important not urgent; 3-Unimportant and urgent ; 4-Unimportant not urgent and I write the number next to the item on the list.  Then I put them in order by number and that should do it, right?  WRONG! 

What I haven't done is redefine what those categories mean to me at this moment in 2008. What is truly important?  Is it what your staff thinks?  Is it what your accountant thinks?  Or have you thought it through to the point where it really is what you think. The key to moving your business forward is acting on what you know to be important to you and your business and not what's standing outside your door at any given moment.  This is deceptively simple. You think you know what's important to you, but given the explosion of social media and new ways to think about business, have your really developed your priorities?

Comments

[coach outlet stores]

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[STACIE22Hahn]

Cars and houses are not very cheap and not everybody can buy it. However, loan are created to support different people in such cases.

[Stephanie Diamond]

Hi FWB Gal, Thanks for the comment. If you end everyday by looking at the activites that brought in revenue and the percentage of time you spent on those vs. all others, you'd be amazed!

[Faux Wood Blinds Gal]

Your post did hit a raw nerve for any small business owner. Nothing hits you bigger at the end of the day when you ask yourself "what did I accomplish $$$ wise today". We often keep ourselves busy being busy not realizing what business is all about...great post.

[Text Messages]

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[Stephanie Diamond]

Hi Jay!
Thanks for the great comment. Getting more of the right things done means that the small business owner needs to focus on people-centric activities. By that I mean they should determine what benefit will accrue to their customer and do that thing first.

[Jay Ehret]

Stephanie, you've touched the small business owner's raw nerve. Getting more of the right things done. It's a constant struggle between importance and urgency.

In Getting Things Done, David Allen suggests making projects lists and next actions lists and then regularly reviewing them. At that point he says just trust your gut on what you should be doing next.

[Daniel Mcgonagle]

Thanks for the heads up! Really great post. That's a must-read I must
say. :)

[Daniel Mcgonagle]

Thanks for the heads up! Really great post. That's a must-read I must
say. :)