Distinguishing Between the Vital Few and the Trivial Many

We are just over halfway through the first quarter of 2015, and with that, hopefully halfway through to a profitable and growing first quarter. Hopefully you haven’t forgotten or lost sight of the business plan that you did at the end of 2014.

You know, the one that you spent time on between Christmas and New Year’s because…well…what else were you doing to do that week?

If you haven’t looked at it yet, now would be a great time to dust off the plan (or open up the file on your computer) and revisit, review, and rethink the goals and progress you’re focused on achieving in 2015. More importantly, I would ask you to do an honest assessment of the way you’ve been spending your time over the last 49 days and whether those activities and actions are bringing you closer to your goals.

Knowing the KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) of your business and measuring those KPI’s on a consistent basis is extremely important. They should also be the areas that you dedicate the majority of your time and resources.

These are the areas of the business that are directly related to either bringing on new client relationships or deepening and strengthening existing client relationships. Most of the time there are a “vital few” KPI’s that, if measured and improved upon, are almost guaranteed to have a direct result on your business growth.

What happens most of the time, though, is we get sidetracked with the “trivial many.” These are the tasks that may require our attention, but they don’t directly result in business growth or development.

Here’s what’s interesting thing about the trivial many and the vital few. They’re not unlike the typical “action and reaction” law of science. The trivial many keep us busy. The vital few make us productive. There is a very profound difference between those two words. The action of busy work will give you the reaction of a sense of accomplishment. The action of productive work will provide you the reaction of proven success.

What are you doing to ensure that you’re spending your time wisely and efficiently?