There are many competing priorities in running a business. Everything looks important. The problem is you cannot do everything and do it all at once.

Your business suffers because you cannot give the proper attention to what moves your business forward. You spend your resources on activities that reduce your efficiencies and reduce your profits.

When you clarify your priorities, your team and you can make wise choices about how to spend your time, creativity and money. For example, scrambling to meet externally imposed deadlines such as paying taxes diverts your attention from other activities that could be increasing your revenues.

For instance, if you made it a priority to devise a process for compiling the data required for filing tax documents, you could eliminate the last minute scramble to meet your tax deadline. You would be free to focus on revenue generating work.

To keep your attention on what moves your business forward, prioritize your work. You may discover that small, consistent action in the right direction pays large dividends in the long term.

Here is a method to solve the prioritizing problem:

1. Identify a finite period of time in which to define your priorities. I prefer a 30 day time frame. When I am coaching someone who is particularly overwhelmed, we start with a 2 week time frame.

2. Make a list of what you think are important to accomplish in your time frame. Often this list is a long one. Many people think the longer the list the better.

3. Distill the list to no more than 5 items. This compels you to create a list of key priorities.

4. For each priority on your list, identify these two things: a) the Ideal end result in accomplishing this priority and b) how much money is on the table for accomplishing this priority. It does not always have to be a specific dollar amount. For example, one of my clients realized that “client retention” was the money on the table. That’s priceless.

5. The final step is to determine your First Action. That’s it, your first action to accomplish your priority. This is especially important because once this is clear and you take the first action, your confidence increases. Nothing like action to boost your confidence and clarity.

Besides confusion and lack of clarity, what do you have to lose by defining your top 5 priorities for the next 30 days? With clarity about your priorities for 30 days, you can drill down to your priorities for the week and for the day to be sure these are in alignment with your 5 priorities for 30 days.

What are your top 5 priorities for the next 30 days?

© 2015 Ann Elliott All Rights Reserved