Results ​Happen ​Fastest ​When ​You ​Put First Things First​

Rob: Wait, wait, I can’t start this podcast. I just got a text message. No, and there are 10 new emails in my inbox. What am I going to do?

Hello, friends. This is Rob Brown, host of the Truest Fan Podcast. Welcome to Episode No. 3. We’re going to answer the question, “What matters most?” because when you understand what matters most, results happen faster, and that ties straight into Lesson No. 2 of being a truest fan, because to be a truest fan, you must learn to put your most important work first and avoid anything that gets in the way. 01:07.0]

All too often—think about this—we surrender to other people’s priorities. That text message comes in in the middle of planning for our next big meeting with a client or our email inbox is full of things that we feel like we need to respond to, so we can’t leave the office to go to our son’s baseball game.

We’re constantly being interrupted. People are constantly throwing their priorities in front of us, and we are making the mistake of making their priorities, priorities for us. Oftentimes, their priorities are just to get something off their back, to pass along something that they like your feedback on or they need your help with, and maybe they’re not even expecting it right away. 02:03.8]

But because we live in this society where things are pinging at us all the time, whether it’s direct contact from a client, from a family member in the middle of the business stay, from a client in the evening when we should be spending time with our family, we’re allowing other people to interrupt us and we’re surrendering to those priorities, and that is distracting us from what is most important.

Have you ever felt that way? I know I do it. It happens to me all the time and I have to remind myself, “Stop, Rob. You teach people not to get interrupted. You show people how, when they begin to put their most important things first, when they avoid those distractions, when they don’t surrender to other people’s priorities, they can get literally hours back in their day.” But I’m tempted. It happens because we’re never going to be perfect at this, especially in the world that we live in where things are flying around us all of the time. 03:14.6]

But what I do know is that when we have a system, a plan for putting those distractions aside, dealing with them at a time that is convenient for us, when it’s going to be a priority for us and not a priority just because it came into our inbox, we can focus on those things that we really need to be doing, those things that are most important to advancing our business, to being a better parent, to being more involved in the causes that we care about.

I want you to think about it. What are those things that you are doing or that you’re allowing to happen or come up in your day, each and every day, that are getting in the way of progress, getting in the way of accomplishing your most important tasks? 04:12.6]

Build a system for dealing with those at a time that makes sense. At the same time, decide what’s most important. As you are working on your plan for this year or this quarter, decide what are the most important things that you need to accomplish? What are the most important things that you need to do to get to that next level of success in your business to add those new clients?

What’s that thing that you need to do so that you can have a stronger relationship with your wife, with your kids? What’s that thing that you really want to get to in that charity that you’re involved in, that you’d really like to have help them raise money, open a new building, start a program? What are those priorities? 05:07.3]

Write them down. Understand what those priorities are—and then, as you are being pinged with distractions with other people’s priorities, you can ask yourself, If I stop to address that right now, will that allow me to advance those things that I have set out to be most important?

As you’re setting up your daily activities, your daily plan, ask yourself, Are the things that I’m putting on my to-do list, things that are going to allow me accomplish my big goals, my biggest priorities? We can separate those two things, those distractions, those things that are getting away from the things that are most important, good things happen. 05:56.0]

Are you ready to discover your true purpose, live with impact, and build an ever-greater legacy? Then you need to make time for what truly matters most. Go to TruestFan.com/Challenge to begin the free “Truest Fan seven-day quick start challenge.”

In my coaching business, one of the first things that I do when I take on a new client is I go through a series of exercises that help them get time back in their days, because I know that to take on a new initiative—like working with me and setting some big goals for new quarter or a new year, or for long out into the future—that if I don’t help that person get time back and understand what’s most important, the work that we’re going to do together is never going to happen because they’re not going to have time to work on it. 06:55.7]

I consciously work on activities and routines and success habits that literally get them hours back in their days and their weeks, which we can then strategically fill with working on those things that are most important.

When I talk with the clients, most every year, one of the things that they’ll tell me is, “Rob, your constant reminders to us of making sure that we are working on those things that are most important and having the time to do it are some of the activities that have led to the biggest breakthroughs and results. It’s freeing. It’s liberating.” I want to encourage you to think that way.

What is most important to you? Think about all the different aspects of your life, your family life, your business life, your involvement in causes and charities and other things that you care about. What is most important? What are the things that you want to focus on the most? Take the time to really concentrate on those. Document them. Write them down. 08:11.0]

Then, as you go about your day, as you go about your planning, think about the things that are getting in the way and eliminate those. Push those aside, so that you’re able to make the time for the things that matter most, and I can promise you, that’s when your business will grow the fastest. That’s when your relationships will get stronger. That’s when your involvement and the feeling of accomplishment will come when you’re working with that cause or that charity that you are involved in. But it takes a conscious effort. It takes a conscious effort to do that.

One of the greatest stories that I have heard about this actually comes in the Old Testament. It’s the story of Nehemiah, who was tasked with the responsibility of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem after it was destroyed, and he was getting it done because he was putting his most important things first. 09:12.8]

People would come to him and want to kind of bring him away from that, maybe so they could destroy the temple while he wasn’t paying attention again, but, no, he said to them, “I can’t come down. I have important work to do.”

“I can’t come down. I have important work to do.” I want to encourage you to have that mindset about your most important goals, the things that are most important to you. Ask yourself, Should I take the time to come down from the wall and listen to whatever else somebody has to say? Should I stop and procrastinate, and give up and put it off until tomorrow, or should I stay up here on the wall, build it, build my business, build my family, build my relationships, and do the most important things? 10:06.3]

I can promise you, when you put those most important things first, they’ll happen, and they’ll happen faster and they’ll happen in bigger and more surprising ways.

Let me close this podcast by saying, go to TruestFan.com/Challenge. On that page, you’ll have access to a free seven-day challenge that will help you implement the “Truest Fan” strategies, and Strategy No. 2 is truest fans set priorities, and I give you some specific ways that you can begin putting your most important things first.

Give it a try. Just go to TruestFan.com/Challenge—and, remember, I’m your truest fan and I want to see you get your most important things done. Thanks for listening. 11:10.0]

Rooting for your success!

Rob Brown