Seth Godin on Urgency

Seth’s blog is one of those I always try to read – he’s someone who not only always talks sense, but also articulates what he says succinctly.

I wanted to share something from his latest post regarding ‘fire-fighting’ which is a trap we all get caught in, in many spheres of our lives. This has been a struggle I’ve had in every job I’ve had.

Do you have a plan?

A long or medium term plan for your brand or your blog or your career or your project?

You can have grand visions for remodeling your house or getting in shape, but if there’s a fire in the kitchen, you drop everything and put it out. What choice do you have? The problem, of course, is that most organizations are on fire, most of the time.

Add up enough urgencies and you don’t get a fire, you get a career. A career putting out fires never leads to the goal you had in mind all along.

I guess the trick is to make the long term items even more urgent than today’s emergencies. Break them into steps and give them deadlines. Measure your people on what they did today in support of where you need to be next month.

Spot on! Working in fire-fighting mode is laborious and no fun at all. Set long term objectives, break them up into 100-day plans and measure, correct and implement. The trick is not to get ‘buy-in’ but rather staying the course – Our bosses are always keen on the idea, but they’ve got deadlines, and need xyz at the next meeting etc – it’s not an easy juggling act by any means!

Read the full post here
And his blog here