7 “Get-tos” to Put on Your Calendar Instead of Your To-Do List - Part #1

As a business owner, your to-do list is likely overflowing. Emails, meetings, tasks, and deadlines all demand your attention, leaving little room for the important work that will help your business grow long-term. But what if I told you the secret to success isn’t in the never-ending to-do list? It’s in putting certain "get-to" tasks on your calendar instead. These are the things that will help you build a stronger foundation for your business, and they shouldn’t just be something you get to when you have time. They need to be scheduled—set in stone—so you can move forward with intention.

When you put something on your calendar, and it becomes non-negotiable, it then becomes an appointment with your future success. By shifting these crucial tasks to your calendar, you’re signaling to yourself that they’re just as important as any meeting or client call. This transforms the “get-to” mentality, turning it into something you look forward to rather than something that you have to do off your to-do list. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by a lengthy to-do list, you’re prioritizing these crucial actions I will share. The recurring calendar appointments will provide the momentum you need to stay motivated and take consistent steps toward your goals.

Working ON Your Business

The first “get-to” that needs to be added to your calendar is working on your business. This is crucial to your long-term success and should become an immovable object on your weekly calendar.

A Gallup poll found that 62% of small business owners are working 52 hours or more every week. And let’s be honest—many are working even more. But there’s a catch here: studies by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that working 50+ hours a week is actually harmful to your health. So why do we keep pushing ourselves to work harder and harder? Is more work really the key to more success?

This is where Parkinson’s Law comes in. It suggests that work expands to fill the time allotted. So, if we give ourselves 52+ hours, we’ll fill it. But what if we only gave ourselves 32 hours to work in a week? Let’s consider the goal of a 4-day workweek—how much more could you get done if you worked smarter instead of longer?

As a business coach, I ask my partners to commit 10% of their available weekly work hours to working on their business. So if the goal is that 4-day work week or 32 hours a week (10% = 3.2 hours) to work on your business—not just in it. Working ON simply means thinking about your strategy, looking at the bigger picture, and focusing on how to grow and improve. Dividing that over the course of the week, you’re looking at just under 30 minutes a day. That’s it! Just 30 minutes every day dedicated to growing your business and thinking about how to make it even better.

Don’t let this time be pushed aside for busy work or put off until later. Put it on your calendar, and make it non-negotiable. This is the time that will drive your long-term success. Your business deserves it—and so do you.

Scheduled Reflection

The second crucial appointment on your calendar is dedicated time for reflection. It’s easy to get caught up in the daily tasks of running a business. In the process, you might lose sight of why you started your business in the first place. Reflection is a powerful tool that can help you realign with your core values, reset your priorities, and evaluate your actions

Set aside time each week. 30 minutes should be plenty of time to step back and reflect on where you are in your journey. Reconnect with your "why," and ask yourself questions like; "Am I still aligned with my mission?" "What has been working well, and what could I improve?" "How did my decisions this week bring me closer to my goals?" This practice helps you maintain a clear vision, allowing you to adjust your course when necessary, while also recognizing the progress you've made.

By scheduling this weekly reflection time, you're not only maintaining your focus, but you're also practicing self-care. It’s an opportunity to pause, breathe, and give yourself permission to check in. The clarity you gain from this process will guide your decisions, help you stay grounded, and ultimately lead to more sustainable success.

Actionable Goal-Getting Sessions

You’ve likely heard of the term “goal-setter,” but we’re talking about Goal-Getters here—and no, it’s not a typo! There’s a reason we use the term Goal-Getter. While a goal-setter may write down their goals and hope for the best, a Goal-Getter takes action. They don't just stop at the idea of a goal—they break it down, get into the details, and carve out a clear path toward achieving it. A Goal-Getter understands that success doesn’t just happen by writing things down or dreaming about the future—it requires intentional, focused action.

To help you make real progress, consider the FUNdamentals 5 which I discuss in my book in detail. These are five specific tasks that you can focus on every day. Make 30 to 60 minutes a day in your calendar to get into these 5 items without interruption and see where that flow takes you. By committing to this small yet powerful practice, you’ll find that even the biggest goals become manageable when broken down into smaller, actionable steps. The consistency you build over time will help you see tangible progress—and achieving your goals will become inevitable.

Get started on those first 3 and tune back in next week to get the final 7. What do you think so far? Will you be implementing these? Reach out at ConsultAaron.com.