In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey popularized the concept of a time management matrix to differentiate between activities that are “important” and those that are “urgent.”
It’s easy, and normal, to get caught up in the “urgent” activities that drain you of your time, energy, and focus. The best antidote for this is to have a system to make sure that you are tending to the “important” activities that strategically move your business forward.
I will have you consider that the following 8 activities should be prioritized as “important” on a daily basis and be built into your schedule before the “urgent” takes control of your day. Investing time in these 8 areas are daily deposits into the health and prosperity of your business. If you don’t get strategic, and shift from “urgent” to “important,” you will burn out from all of the fires.
- WEAPONIZE (YOUR PEOPLE):
There is nothing that you can do inside of your business without people. You are failing them if you are not fueling them daily. A simple daily message via voxer, e-mail, or text that inspires, reminds, or teaches may be the daily fuel that they need to deliver exceptional results. - WALK (YOUR BLOCK):
“Walking your block” is the simple routine of touring your business through the eyes of your customer. There is often a gap between theory and application within your business. You can begin to close that gap with observation and communication. As the saying goes, “Inspect what you expect.” By walking your block and observing reality, you will be able to learn and apply improvements daily. - MEASURE (YOUR METRICS):
Besides your people, your product is your greatest asset. You must utilize meaningful metrics, and the revelations found in those metrics, to see where your business is and what you are accomplishing on a daily basis. If you can’t keep score with measurables, you will never know if you are winning or losing. - EXPAND (YOUR OPPORTUNITIES):
There are four ways to grow a business: 1) increase users; 2) increase the number of times users come back; 3) increase the average value of each user, or; 4) increase the efficiency of each process. Do you have strategies to impact each of these four growth mechanisms? You have to be able to see what’s going on in your business and make micro-adjustments to stay on course. - STUDY (YOUR INDUSTRY):
Your perspective drives your production, and your production drives your profitability. If you want to change your production, you need to increase your perspective. Winning businesses have an energy of certainty and confidence that comes from studying their market and taking actions that keep them ahead of the curve. - TEACH (YOUR MESSAGE):
The best businesses, and best business leaders, have established a degree of credibility as thought leaders within their field. This is established by sharing content which has value and compels people to take action. - TELL (YOUR PEOPLE YOU APPRECIATE THEM):
We are still a society that runs on emotional equity, and we must keep our ‘account’ full of social deposits. Customers, vendors, and associates are all part of your business community and deserve messages of appreciation. Build a network of people waiting/wanting to ‘pay back’ or reciprocate your social deposits. - ASK (YOUR PEOPLE FOR FEEDBACK):
Everyone wants to feel like they have a voice, and significance, in their community. What are we really good at? What needs are we really fulfilling? How do we leverage this? Ask for your community’s thoughts…and then just listen. Sometimes you will learn the most from your biggest critics.
GRIT 
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