How to Manage Urgent vs Important Tasks
As small business owners and entrepreneurs, it is easy to get overwhelmed with the never-ending list of tasks that need to be done. We often focus on the urgent tasks that are right in front of us, such as sending the follow ups, scheduling a call, connecting with a client, getting to inbox zero. And while these tasks are urgent they might not be the most important ones or get us closer to our long-term goals.
It is essential that we prioritize our important tasks if we want to reach our desired outcomes. Urgent tasks are usually the ones that get all the attention. 'Of course I need to do client work before working on my course'. Important tasks can often feel unnecessary, or even like a luxury, but trust me, they are NOT.
Let’s take a look at what urgent tasks vs important tasks look like, and how to create an environment to accomplish both.
Setting Boundaries & Schedules
One way to ensure that you are getting through your urgent tasks is by setting boundaries around how much time you plan to spend on each task and sticking to them. Time management and goal setting go hand-in-hand; all of those small actions will add up over time and help you reach your desired results faster. This gives you more time to tackle some of the other important to-dos that tend to eat up more time and creativity.
It can also be helpful to establish a routine where you dedicate specific times of the day for working on areas that need attention. This could mean blocking off an hour for project planning or taking a break from emails every afternoon. Whatever works best for you – just make sure that you create a schedule that allows you to get through your urgent tasks without sacrificing time to focus on the big picture, important tasks too!
Focus On One Thing At A Time
When possible, don’t multi-task; instead focus your full attention on one thing at a time until completion as this will allow you concentrate better and increase your productivity throughout the day. It is also helpful to take short breaks during longer tasks so that you don’t become burned out or frustrated with the process. Taking a few minutes every hour or so allows your mind and body some much needed rest before jumping back into work mode!
Break it Up
Urgent tasks are often easier to accomplish, getting to check them off our lists gives us little hits of dopamine, while important ones seems to be more exhausting because usually they’re longer like “updating my website” or “create my new course”. Letting them sit on our list, looming, can add a lot of unnecessary anxiety and stress. Take writing copy for example- when you think of writing copy for an entire website- cue the nervous sweats. But one page a week doesn’t sound so scary. Try breaking up the larger tasks into more manageable ones. Instead of trying to do it all at once, give yourself a clear breakdown of tasks so before you know it, the whole thing is done!
Outsource
This may seem counter-intuitive, but sometimes handing off important tasks allows you to step back and gain a new perspective on everything. By bringing in an expert, you get to sit in the passenger seat a bit which takes some of the pressure off. Needing to tighten up your CRM- an operations consultant can see you pain points and bring new solutions to your onboarding process. Need to update your freebie or email funnel- a marketing assistant can take that off your plate. New a website redesign to reflect the level of transformation you bring your clients- a designer will be able to take your vision and create something you will love- in a lot less time, with a lot less frustration.
With careful planning and dedication, coaches and service providers can manage their urgent and important tasks more efficiently while still making progress towards their big goals!
So you’re ready to dive in and make steps towards doing important tasks in your business, so what do you do next?
Write down your important tasks that you want to do and look at this often so you are reminded that THIS is what you’re working towards
Get support from an expert in this area: is it training your team? Start making videos for them and handing off projects. Is it overhauling your website? Start interviewing designers to see who can help you achieve your goals and do it FOR you.
Set aside the time you need to do the task. It’s easy to let these things slip by but that’s why you need to hold yourself accountable by putting it on the calendar so you’re making progress. It’s about taking action AND scheduling it into your calendar.
