Successful organizations often have more ideas and opportunities they would like to accomplish than the time, money, and resources to do so.

“Squirrel syndrome,” can quickly bury an organization in quicksand. Hopping from one idea to the next may be exciting, but in the meantime, nothing gets done. This can be demoralizing to the team and detrimental to organizational growth.

To ensure you’re spending your time wisely for its best and highest purpose, consider following the SMART process. This not only helps to prioritize goals, but also tells you what you need to be spending time on now.

Getting SMART

Everything you do in life can be classified by its urgency (Urgent/Not Urgent) and by its importance (Important/Not Important). This creates the matrix pictured here with four quadrants. For example, crises and emergencies are important and urgent, whereas prevention, planning, and improvement are important but not urgent.

Categorizing initiatives based on the various quadrants will greatly help you and your team figure out the appropriate order to tackle different initiatives or determine if they need to be dealt with at all.

This allows your organization to prioritize and utilize your resources in the most effective manner, including human capital, research and development, financial capital, and any outside resources to greatly increase the probability of success.

Investment advice offered through Planned Financial Services, a Registered Investment Advisor.

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