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Four Square Organizer

Written by: Donald F. Pooley

Article Overview: Don't know what's important? Do you have problem establishing priorities?

Four Square Organizer

Don't know what's important? Do you have problem establishing priorities?
Draw a square on a piece of paper. Bisect it both ways to create 4 smaller squares.
In the top-left square write "Urgent & Important" and in the top-right one write "Urgent & Not Important".
In the bottom 2 squares write "Not Urgent & Important", and "Not Urgent & Not Important".
You now have these 4 categories to put your various tasks and concerns into, ranging from "Urgent & Important" at one corner to "Not Urgent & Not Important" diagonally opposite.
For easy use number the squares, 1, 2, 3, and 4. #1 is "Urgent & Important", #2 is "Urgent & Not Important", #3 is "Not Urgent & Important", and #4 is "Not Urgent and Not Important".
Now take your current to-do list and number each item on it according to its level of urgency and importance.
Once you've done that, you can put everything in #4 on the back burner because it's neither urgent nor important.
You'd think, because both are urgent, that #1 & #2 would be what you should focus on, wouldn't you?
But, according to the experts, #3 is where you should focus your attention, precisely because it's not urgent. Urgency usually means putting out fires, not business building. And often something urgent assumes an unwarranted importance and seems more significant than it really is.
And urgency can be infective, like the client who calls and is up in the air about something that he thinks needs your immediate attention so you dive into it, junking jobs that are far more important to your ongoing success.
Like prospecting, for instance.
Prospecting is usually in the "Not Urgent & Important" #3 slot, and gets overridden by the urgencies of #1 and #2. Neglected too long though and it's "Urgent & Important"
Your future lies in the "Not Urgent & Important" items on your to-do lists, so spend your prime time on them.

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Re: Ideas For Business - Thank you again, for all your comments. I am glad for all the support from true business owners. Me and my partner were actually thinking of Mel Lastman Sq or Nathan Phillips Square for the location. Which do you guys think will attract more customers from the hours 12pm-3:30pm on a friday? Also about the TTC vendor license. Does it cost money to apply for one? and how might we purchase one?
Re: Ideas For Business - We had small chocolate bars and big ones. The smaller ones we sold for $0.50, as for the big ones we sold for a $1 each. We promoted our products by attracting customers by talking to them and playing music so that they would notice us. As I have stated our products were all chocolate bars, however we will add more variety next time. And as stated before we did all of this in Nathan Philip Square. This time I plan to keep track of how much we spent and made, so that we would know the exact profit that came out of this.
Re: Ideas For Business - Lucy, Visit ttc.ca for info on the Vendor license to operate on TTC Property only. If you plan on not operating on TTC property you will not need this. I would recommend Nathan Philips on Friday afternoons to catch the Lunch time crowd - Tell me when you plan on performing - I will attend as i work right beside Nathan Philips. I forgot about Yonge/Dundas Square - This place is packed everyday during lunch and after work hours. I can attend to watch you there 'cos I work close to that area as well.
Re: Ideas For Business - [quote="Lucy Wu":3jzaal98]We had small chocolate bars and big ones. The smaller ones we sold for $0.50, as for the big ones we sold for a $1 each. We promoted our products by attracting customers by talking to them and playing music so that they would notice us. As I have stated our products were all chocolate bars, however we will add more variety next time. And as stated before we did all of this in Nathan Philip Square. This time I plan to keep track of how much we spent and made, so that we would know the exact profit that came out of this.[/quote:3jzaal98] Hi Lucy, So how much did the small and larger chocolate bars cost you to start?
Re: Ideas For Business - Thanks for the support!=] On Friday me and Stas went to Nathan Phillips Square to sell our mini chocolate bars and larger chocolate bars. We made a total of $12.50!!! It is a small amount yes, however we've learned from this lesson that products must correspond to time. We were outside in the morning at around 9am to around 12pm selling chocolates, however many people were not interested in sugary foods so early in the morning. We set up a music player to project the music form my i-pod. We played a variety of genres, that was upbeat to cheer people up. I held the chocolates in a little basket, and some people even thought it was for free. So next time we are making a more noticeable sign. This week me and Stas will sell chocolates again, same place but different time. This time we are going to try 1pm-4pm.


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