Is It Important or Is It Urgent?

There's a big difference between what is important and what is urgent. Most of what we do is urgent and 85% of what we do can be done by anybody. About 10% of what we do can be done by someone else if they're trained and at least 5% of what we do are things that only we can do. Those are those important things, although 5% of what I do are things that only I can do and although those are really important things, we spend a majority of our time on the urgent things that really anybody could do if I just started delegating more. If I build a team, if I was willing to let go, if I gave up on my perfectionism and the fact that I'm the only one that can do it this way. If I forgot about those times I've been burned by people in the past and I chose just to empower others to take my ideas and run with them. 

If you're going to begin to think like a leader, you need to begin to think about the things you do and filter them through the process of, is this important or is it urgent? Again, most of what we do, anybody could do, check your email, check Facebook, attend a meeting, right? Write a postcard, order supplies, run to Costco and Sam's club, right? 10% of what we do, someone else could do if they were trained, but then there's that 5%. Now only you can really determine what that 5% is. I might talk to you about that over the course of the next five weeks, but really only you can determine that 5%. But listen friend, that 5% is so important and you need to make sure that you have enough margin in your life to focus on that five.