Urgent doesn't always mean IMPORTANT - 6 Tips to get you to IMPORTANT

Taking control of how we spend our time one of the best changes that we can make for long term success.  We don't really manage our time, we manage our tasks and activities.  Too often our "urgent" tasks are those that have something to do with another person's goals and not ours.  There are 2 types of urgent tasks - 1. those we can't foresee...and 2. those we've put off or procrastinated getting done. 

Stephen Covey's time management quadrant process is a great way to put our activities into perspective.  Start categorizing your tasks within this quadrant and you'll quickly see that most of the activities that will propel you to accomplishing and reaching your goals are Important but NOT urgent...that's why most of us don't get to them.  There's no sense of urgency attached to them and are easy to put off.  Check this out and try it for a week or two and see what I mean. 
http://www.usgs.gov/humancapital/documents/TimeManagementGrid.pdf

Here's are 6 tips that will help you get to those Important activities that will change your business!!!

1.  start saying no...enough already, you really aren't superwoman!
2.  stop being a "time Pollyanna"... you really can't drive 100 km, see a client, drive 100 km back all in an hour - get real with your time!!!!
3. schedule appropriately in the first place- EVERYTHING you do has a timeline attached to it... figure that out when your scheduling anything.
4. stop procrastinating - this is another blog entirely... get help if you need it.. this is such a waste of time, energy, talent and angst.
5. stop allowing another person's priorities to become your priorities!  Know which important tasks you need to do each day and protect your time like a mama bear with her cubs.
6. if you starting setting a deadline on everything you do it will change your world - when you ask for something from someone else, put a timeline to it...when someone asks for something from you, put a time line to it.  When you write a to-do list put timelines to each task.  When you're working on a project put a timeline to each and every task for each and every person.  This alone will change how you spend your time.

Until next time...