Imagine an archery target, with a bull’s-eye in the middle ringed by three circles. • The outermost circle represents tasks that are Not Urgent and Not Important. Examples of this would be the UPS guy walking into the office and requiring a signature, socializing around the water cooler or making phone calls to friends and family. • The second circle from the outside is Urgent but Not Important. It is urgent to solve an issue for a customer who has a problem and you should pay prompt attention and make sure he’s satisfied with the result. This area represents all the things that are urgent and important to take care of immediately, so this is where most people spend most of their time. But in terms of developing long-term strategy for your business, this is not where YOU want to be most of the time. In the long-run, this is not critical to your business, and it is not going to move your life forward in any way. This is the level we call the “Zone.” This is where your goals live and this is where you ideally want to be most of the time. It is the most important level to moving your life and career forward, but gets neglected most. These are the activities that are crucial to the future success of your business. They include database management, networking with new people, nurturing contacts, expanding your marketing, keeping up with industry trends, and developing systems for your business. As they say, time is money, and as a commercial real estate broker, time is indeed one of your most precious and scarce resources. Managing it well can make all the difference. One of the most important concepts in business is time blocking and it starts with a very specific strategy: establishing a hierarchy of time targets. 
These include certain kinds of deadlines. For example, say your accountant calls April 14 with a question about your taxes and it is impossible to answer it in time to meet the deadline tomorrow. It is urgent but not important that you file your taxes by April 15. After all, you can always file for an extension. And ultimately, getting your taxes filed, while important to keep you in good standing with Uncle Sam, is not going to help you grow your business. • The third circle is Urgent and Important. • The bull’s-eye represents tasks that are Not Urgent but Important.
It is critical to figure out what is not urgent but important. Just as finding time to spend with your family falls into this category, so does making those ten extra phone calls a day to move your business forward. You can learn to control how you spend your time by first identifying where on the target you most often land. You know how important it is to keep track of your goals and move toward them, but because they are not urgent and they do not have immediate deadlines, you probably are not paying enough attention to them. However, if you don’t take care of these issues regularly, they will slide back into the third level, Urgent and Important, because all of a sudden, your leads may dry up and your business could be jeopardized. If you handle these issues proactively while they’re in the bulls-eye, they will not become urgent and your business will thrive.
