It doesn't seem that long...

There are times I think of posting something here, but then I decide that it's too much of a bother to fire up the system, connect to the local ISP, and so on. Nonetheless, I am surprised to find I've let three whole days go by without a post.

That's the perfidious thing about doing things that are important, but not urgent.

Urgent things call out to us. Customers walk in the door. Phones ring. Bills arrive in the mail. These events claim a high priority on our time. In the business world, these urgent items are called "fires," and the act of dealing with them is, consequently, called "firefighting."

Very often, the reason an organization (or an individual) appears to have so many fires to fight is because some very basic, very important issues are not addressed. For example, if you don't balance your checkbook, you'll end up spending a lot of time on the phone explaining to people why checks bounce, and you'll spend more of your working time earning the cash to pay for the overdraft and bounced-check fees. This, of course, leaves you with the perception that you have even less time to attend to details such as balancing your checkbook.

The same is true of the business world, if not more so. The store currently does not have a good method for logging and following up on customer inquiries. As a result, there is some percentage of calls from customers that are made to complain about the lack of followup. This eats into everyone's time, and does not enhance the store's reputation.

In short, the more time you must devote to fighting fires, the more time you'll have to devote later to fighting even more fires. The only solution is to prioritize what needs to be done and to make sure that important things are high on the list.

Time to get ready for work.

Cheers...