PRIORITIES IN DEPTH

Last week, in a meeting with one of our BizQuack members, the topic of relaxation came up. He is enjoying his membership, especially the blogs and Tuesday Challenge;  but with so many new ideas he wondered how he was ever going to get everything done and still have some personal time.

We ended up in a rather philosophical discussion about what is important in life and how to set priorities. I asked what his priorities were, and he said his business was number one. His reasoning was that without a successful business he could not support his family, thus the majority of his time and focus was on his business.

When I asked him how his family felt about that, he said that they wished he would spend more quality time with them. His answer was that will happen at some future date when his business no longer needed all his time.

He then asked me how I prioritized what I felt was important in my life. Since the question was asked, I felt I had to provide an honest answer and shared the following order as to the important things in my life:

• My Faith
• My Family
• My Business

I went on to explain that my faith was my main source of support that it is the foundation for my family life as well as for my business values. On a daily basis I make time for my faith, both to be thankful for what I have received and also to ask for help in my daily undertakings.

Without a stable and supportive family, growing a business becomes a much more difficult undertaking. I suggested a family commitment for one daily meal at which everyone was present. At this meal each family member was to discuss their day, the good things and bad things that happened and plans for the next day. The important thing to remember is that honesty is a critical foundation for family communications, thus even the business owner has to be honest as to how the business is doing.

As far as the ideas presented in BizQuack, I told him that he was not expected to implement on a daily basis, all the good ideas he learned about. BizQuack is there to provide new ideas and methods for growing a business especially when a new burst of enthusiasm is needed. The goal is to select the one that is the most closely aligned to your Vision destination and then work on it.

I did ask about his spiritual life and he admitted that he has “sort of lost touch”, but promised me he would look at it again with his wife and family.

There is more to building a business than number crunching.

The Key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. Stephen Covey