What's Important IS the Most Urgent

There are a few books that nearly every entrepreneur has (or should have) on their bookshelf. These include, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, Good to Great by Jim Collins and, of course, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. (Do you have a business book that you absolutely swear by? I'd love to know what it is.)

In Covey's book, he introduces the concept of urgent tasks vs. important ones and lays them out into four quadrants. This includes activities that are...

I. Both Urgent and Important

II. Important But Not Urgent

III. Urgent But Not Important

IV. Neither Urgent Nor Important

Check out the diagram above to see an example of what typically falls into each quadrant.

In Quadrant II (Important, But Not Urgent), preparation and planning lies at the top of the list along with relationship building and values clarification.

The problem is, while you know you need to do what I call "marathon" activities like long range, strategic planning, come up with an organizational chart and job descriptions for your team, write a batch of articles, blog posts, and press releases, or follow up with and survey your currently happy clients and customers, most business owners put these actions at the very bottom of their list.

And guess what? That means, they never get done.

Sound familiar? I had private sessions with almost 40 entrepreneurs last month and discovered that nearly every single one of them knew what was "important" but couldn't find the time to do it.

What do they do instead? They focus their time and attention on what I call "sprint" activities. These are often fueled by adrenaline, like struggling to meet deadlines or trouble shooting sudden emergencies. (Both, ironically, often caused by poor planning.) Or their sprint tasks are short distance, instant gratification jobs like sending emails, tweeting, filing papers...anything that has a definite finish line.

Yes, life gets in the way. And yes, unexpected situations and opportunities arise that you feel you must take priority. But if writing your business plan, creating your marketing calendar, or investing time in building relationships doesn't happen, your business is never going to move forward. You're going to look around 3 years from now and discover you are in exactly the same spot with the same challenges, cash flow, and excuses.

Why not cut it out now and save yourself some time? Let's commit to taking care of those most important tasks as soon as possible.

Here are 3 tips to help you take care of those "long distance" activities sooner rather than later:

1. Schedule an out of office retreat: Seriously, if you stay in your office or standard work environment, you will get sucked back into those "urgent but not important" tasks like phone calls, emails, and various distractions. Remove yourself from where you sit everyday and you just might get some much needed perspective. Make sure you block out at least a half day on your calendar (a full day or even two is better)...and write it down in ink, not pencil. (Does anyone still use hard copy calendars like me?)

2. Work in front of an audience: Just like when I was on the track team and had both teammates and a coach to supervise, challenge, and observe my performance, having someone there to simply witness what you are doing might be all you need to finally get things done. I also highly recommend hiring your own coach to keep you on track, focused, and accountable. Or join a mastermind group and/or get a fellow entrepreneur to be your buddy.

3. Put it in writing and keep it in front of your face everyday: Many entrepreneurs are highly creative visionaries who often "can't be bothered with the details." If you are someone who generally keeps all the details of your business in your head (which makes it virtually impossible to delegate any part of your business to someone else, by the way), you REALLY need to pin yourself down and put your plan on paper. Again, you might want to hire someone to help you with this as creating systems and detailed plans is probably not one of your strengths. And when you are finished, you must keep it some place visible to ensure you will actually follow your plan on a daily basis.

I am not a big fan of reinventing the wheel. Much of the important planning and systems creation you need to do can be "borrowed" from other successful business owners. If you typically experience "writer's block" when confronted with a blank computer screen, look for examples of what others have already created. The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur by Jim Horan is a great resource.

Also, see my recommendation below for another tool that includes examples and templates for your very own essential marketing plan...