Yesterday, I wrote about the great American epic that is "Bloodsport" and how the Oscar-worthy acting by Jean-Claude Van Damme in that film forced me to recognize the need for more focus in my life. In the month that I've been officially running Starling Consulting, I've already seen the creep of chaos taking over my carefully calibrated block schedule, and I realized this week it was time to refocus.
With my daughter going back to school, Legion needing to hire two new people, and clients demanding more of my time, I had let the urgent take the place of the important, an all-to-common mistake in businesses of all sizes and tenures. It had to stop. So I woke up this morning, the first of my official Starling Consulting work week, and got back on track. I did not open my email. I did not go to any social media sites. I did not open my Google Drive and start pounding out deliverables for clients. I didn't allow the urgent to creep in front of the important.
I meditated. I focused my mind. And now I've spent 90 minutes writing, as I said I would, gathering my thoughts and organizing them in the way that best sets me up for success. I feel calm, and centered, and prepared to do the work that is coming the rest of today. I have time blocked to check my email, I have a schedule to work on the deliverables for clients. I have sales meetings today that will help me grow. And all of those things will happen in their due time. But if I had allowed all of that to grow and creep, Blob-like, into my focus time, my day would be scattered and chaotic, instead of intentional and directed.
In your life, and in your business, how are you allowing the urgent to overtake the important? Examine how you are spending your time. Do you check your email first thing and then start the pinballing from one task to another that absorbs so much of our time on a daily basis? Or do you carefully guard your time so you are sure to take care of the truly important work first, before you begin firefighting? If you don't schedule that important work time, you are shortchanging yourself and your company. Taking the time to figure out how to return to focus is incredibly important, and an investment in the future and growth of your company, and yourself.
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