Are you focused on what is most important?  Or do you spend your days being pulled in by whatever comes up?   “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities,”  said Stephen Covey, author of  ” The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” When he published this book it was ground braking.  While it sounds obvious that we should make sure to focus on the most important things that will move our business forward it is sometimes very hard to do.  As Peter Drucker, author and management consultant, stated, “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”
Everyone has a tendency to be caught by the “bright shiny object syndrome,”  or SOS as some people call it.   Small business owners are getting distracted by too many ideas or the latest fad, going off in a million directions and never completing anything. This loss of focus is costing you hundreds of hours a year in lost productivity, lost hours, lost dollars.  Additionally many business owners are so busy attending to what is urgent that they neglect what is important.
The key is to plan into your schedule working on your business and not just in your business.  On any given day, what is in my control? What actions are you taking that add the most to the bottom line and move you in the direction of your goals?  To me what is most important for a business owner is to focus on are revenue creating activities.  As I tell my clients you should always be doing activities that move the needle forward.  So what can you schedule into your calendar that helps you build your business?
Delegating certain tasks is a great way to save time for you  to focus on your most important activities.  Many business owners believe they have to do everything in order for it to be done right.  But if you put systems in place that your employees follow you can easily pass off many responsibilities that take your focus away from what’s most important.
It’s easy to add to your to do list.   It’s hard to stay focused and so the hardest decisions we make are all the things not to work on.