An entrepreneur can be the visionary, janitor, salesman and office manager all at the same time. The hands-on requirements of a startup appeal to most entrepreneurs. However, all successful people need to have that “strategic time” — the quadrant two (not urgent, but important) in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey).
This quadrant involves activities such as prevention, relationship building, recognizing new opportunities, planning, among others.
I learned a while back that I could easily be sucked into day-to-day crisis management. While I felt productive solving urgent problems, whenever I looked up from my situation, I realized that I wasn’t making much progress. It was only after I started scheduling quadrant two time into my days that I could map a more effective and bigger plan for my companies. After all, it is my relationships and vision that is difficult for others to replicate. The day-to-day execution can be done by others, some of whom are more capable in this regard.
Beware, the noise of both urgent and important activities (crisis, pressing problems, deadline-driven projects), can be compelling. They need to be covered from an organizational standpoint. But if they are the more than 75% of the top executive’s focus of any-sized company, that company is most likely running in place.
Want to take your company to a bigger place? Then,spend the time thinking BIG.