“People fail because they focus on the important things.” is a quote from one of my favorite leaders, Doug Lennick.

“What!?!” was my response. “I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what is most important and now you’re telling me that is not what is important?” Doug gave this great little smile he uses when he knows he has created a learning moment.

“Important things distract you from doing the KEY THINGS you need to do.” he explained.  He went on to explain how KEY things are those YOU MUST DO…

YOU means that no one else can do them for you;  only you can do them.

MUST means they are not optional.

DO means it is an action that needs to occur.

Examples of thing others cannot do for you are building relationships, exercising, learning, taking time to think and prepare, and setting your priorities and family time.  Those items that are not KEY can be delegated, or you can choose to not do them at all. It is easy to list the important things we think we need to do and let them crowd out our KEY things we must do.

Look at all you think you need to do and see if they are really KEY. One of the most common KEY activities I see people allowing the “important” things to crowd out is the time to think and prepare. Adding one or two blocks of time in the day has worked wonders for my clients. Relationship building is the next most common fatality of the list of important items.

I know we both want you to be successful. Let’s not allow the important things squeeze out our KEY activities! It is tempting. I just think of that knowing smile on Doug’s face and ask myself . “Which items are truly KEY?”