PRIORITY
“The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities.” Taken from the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown.I have often written about the concept of focusing on one thing but I still find many small business owners have many “priorities”. When everything becomes a priority then nothing is a priority, and we lose our focus, our energies and waste our time.
It is important to learn a way to focus on what is absolutely essential and that system is called discipline.Without discipline your business life becomes cluttered and nothing worthwhile is accomplished. In other words, once you have determined which of your goals will make the biggest positive impact on your journey towards your vision, it becomes your focus.
Vince Lombardi said: “Success demands singleness of purpose.” Once you have identified your real priority that becomes the starting point for achieving extraordinary results. Successful people always work from a clear sense of priority. Throw away the long “to-do” list concept; any action list has to be short and designed to produce measurable results.
It’s amazing! Of the hundreds of business books that I have read, one underlying concept the, “Pareto Principle”, the 80/20 Principle, appears again and again. 80/20 says that 80% of your desired results come from 20% of your efforts. How much more success can be achieved if the 80% was discarded and the focus was on the 20%, your number one priority?
I believe that everyone has an opportunity to reach their vision by following theses four steps:
- Have a defined vision. Reaching your vision becomes your priority.
- Carefully select a single goal which becomes your immediate priority defined by action items. The daily priority helps you reach your weekly priority, and those take you closer to your monthly and yearly goals. (See the Accountability Tracker in BizQuack)
- Traveling this journey by yourself is almost impossible. Every business owner, from a start-up to an established business, needs an accountability partner.
- Have the intestinal fortitude to implement the first three steps in this process.
Most small businesses fail or fail to achieve the desired results because of inaction. They don’t do what they know they should do to become a success. It can be called hard work, or stepping out of your comfort zone or learning to accept the right support when offered. That is why BizQuack was developed!
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Tips & Advice by Nick Petra, CFP – Founder of Strategic Duck and BizQuack
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