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Problems and Priorities

Guest post by: Jim Stovall

Article Overview: Every day, we are all faced with two important questions that greatly impact out productivity. These two questions are What are we doing? and How well are we doing it? Most of the emphasis in human behavior and personal development deals with the second question How well are we doing it? Very seldom do the success gurus focus on the primary element which is What are we doing?

Problems and Priorities

Every day, we are all faced with two important questions that greatly impact out productivity. These two questions are What are we doing? and How well are we doing it? Most of the emphasis in human behavior and personal development deals with the second question How well are we doing it? Very seldom do the success gurus focus on the primary element which is What are we doing?

Please understand that you can be doing a great job of accomplishing the wrong thing. It's like the maintenance man on the Titanic who was cleaning the deck as the ship was slowly sinking. Cleaning the deck can certainly be an important thing, but while the ship is sinking, it does not even approach priority.

I had the opportunity to speak to my accountant a number of times prior to the tax deadline. In his utter frustration with some of his clients, he had adopted a new motto that says, "Your current crisis brought on by your poor planning is not my immediate problem."

Each day, there are a number of people who are determined to make their problems your priorities. We have all had the experience of being at our desk involved in very productive and fruitful activities when someone calls to interrupt us. The classic example is, of course, the sales call. Telephone sales people make their living from calling prospects on the telephone. However, it is certainly not your priority during the productive part of your workday to be bothered with these kinds of calls.

Focus on your personal and professional mission statement, then ask yourself, "What are the things I can do today that will get me from here to there?" These activities become your priorities. Anything less important that diverts you from your priority is a problem. Remember, we are only as big as the smallest thing that it takes to divert us from our destination.

Oftentimes, the more productive things on our daily schedule are not the easiest things for us to accomplish. Therefore, we allow or even welcome intrusions and interruptions that sabotage our productivity. At the end of the day, you will either be one day closer to or farther from your goal. Make today count.

Today's the day!

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Article Tags: behavior, Jim Stovall, personal development, productivity



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Entrepreneurs come up with "The Big Idea" - A question we have been asked more than once recently, by both aspiring entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship researchers, is: How do entrepreneurs come up with "The Big Idea"? The most recent case was an MBA student who really wanted to become an entrepreneur but felt he could never come up with a "big idea". Well, in our experience the reality is that most successful entrepreneurs didn't think they were going to come up with a big idea either! Our advice to this MBA was straightforward. Don't look for big ideas, look for problems that need solving. Problems are a much easier starting point and act as a focus for creativity and innovation - providing you can be passionate about it and are prepared to devote an obsessive level of attention to the important details. At our core we are all resourceful, creative creatures once we have a problem in front of us. Ideally the problems that you should seek should be in an area where you have experience / expertise. That will help ensure you really understand the problem and increase the likelihood of you being able to formulate an intelligent and practical solution, incorporating the potential for a competitive advantage. Virtually all the ventures we know arose out of dissatisfaction with the current state of things. Viewing innovation and entrepreneurship as the process of identifying problems, devising potential solutions and then implementing those solutions is often more useful and productive as a perspective.


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