Always putting out fires? You might be ignoring what really matters

Ever feel like this?

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You’ve been flat out all day — calls ringing nonstop, just fixed a client issue when your supplier throws in a new problem — and by the time the day ends, you realise you haven’t actually done anything that moves your business forward.

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If you’re a local business owner, founder,or studio operator, this might sound familiar.
It’s not that you’re not working hard — it’s just too easy to get swept up by things that feel urgent, even if they’re not actually important.

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Here’s the real catch:

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Important tasks are rarely urgent. And urgent tasks? They’re rarely important.

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If all you do is put out fires, you’ll never have time to build the house.

There’s a tool for this. It’s simple,practical — and was famously used by former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.
It’s called the Eisenhower Matrix, and it helps you quickly figure out what needs to be done now, what can be scheduled, and what doesn’t deserve your attention at all.

Let’s explore how it works — and how it canpull you out of the time trap.

The Eisenhower Matrix

The Eisenhower Matrix is a straight forward yet powerful time management tool.
Its core idea is this: every task you face in a day can be sorted into one offour categories:

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Important and urgent – These need immediate attention. Think: a customer complaint or a payroll issue.

Important but not urgent – These add long-term value to your business but aren’t screaming for attention right now. For example: improving your systems, setting up a customer follow-up process, or updating your website content.

Urgent but not important – These seem pressing but don’t actually impact your business much. Things like last-minute meeting invites or random requests from others.

Neither important nor urgent –  Scrolling social media, aimless chats, or repetitive low-value tasks. Skipping these won’t hurt your business one bit.

Sounds a bit abstract? Let’s walk through areal-world example.

You run a small custom furniture business,and here’s what’s on your plate today:

A customer calls — wrong item delivered.

It’s payday tomorrow, so you need to finalise payroll.

A friend invites you to an industry networking event tonight.

You want to update your website product photos and tweak some copy.

You’ve been meaning to review customer data from the last six months to spot who’s likely to reorder.

Someone tags you in a group chat, asking if you’d like to sponsor their event.

You spent 15 minutes scrolling videos this morning before heading out.

Now, if you run these through the Eisenhower Matrix:

The customer complaint and payroll? Both importantand urgent — no choice, they need to be done now.

Updating the website and reviewing customer data? Important but not urgent — nobody’s asking for them today, but they could make a huge difference to your business in the long run.

The event invite and sponsorship request? Urgent but not important — they feel time-sensitive, but you don’t have to handle them yourself. You can decline or delegate.

And the videos? Well... we both know that was just a time-filler — no value to the business at all.

Here’s what’s interesting:

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The tasks that make your business stronger rarely shout the loudest.

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They sit quietly in the “important but not urgent” pile — and that’s exactlywhy they get ignored.

And if you feel like you’re always busy but never moving forward, chances are you’re stuck spending your day on tasks that feel urgent… but don’t really matter.

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How do you know what’s actuallyimportant? Ask yourself these three questions

A lot of people get stuck at the same pointwhen learning this matrix:

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“I get what’s urgent… but how do I know if something’s truly important?”

Great question. Luckily, there’s a simpleway to figure it out. Just ask yourself three things:

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Question 1: What happens if I don’t dothis at all?

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If it affects customer satisfaction, team trust, or cash flow — it’s probably important.
If you’re only worried about “someone being annoyed,” then it might feel urgent, but it’s not actually important.

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Question 2: Will this move the business closer to a goal?

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Let’s say your goal is to increase repeat sales. No one’s chasing you to do it, but reviewing customer data or improving your post-sale follow-up can make areal difference.

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Question 3: Will this lead to somethingI can build on?

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Standardising a process, improving your product photos, logging customer feedback — none of these are urgent, but all of them help your business grow stronger over time.

Watch out for some easy traps. For example:

A mate drops by saying “let’s talk about a possible partnership,” so you pause everything. Sounds exciting, but doesn’t really push your business forward.

A staff member pings you in a group chat about something they could probably figure out on their own. You reply immediately — and lose momentum on the new idea you were working on.

Scrolling through social media under the excuse of “looking for inspiration”? We’ve all been there. But deep down, youknow you’re just avoiding the hard stuff.

These all feel like they need to bedone — but in truth, they don’t help your business move forward.

So every now and then, it’s worth asking yourself:

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“Am I patching leaks… or actually building the house?”

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How do you actually use this matrix? Start with something as simple as this

A lot of people see the Eisenhower Matrixand think,
“Yeah, sounds great in theory — but my day’s chaos. I don’t have time to sort everything into four neat boxes.”

Good news: you don’t need a fancy app orcolour-coded spread sheet.
Just grab a piece of paper and a pen. That’s enough to get started.

Here’s a simple way to put it intopractice:

Step 1: Write down everything you needto do today

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Whether it’s shipping orders, making phone calls, replying to clients, orsorting out staff leave — get it all out of your head and onto paper. It doesn’t need to be tidy. The goal is just to externalise the mess.

Step 2: Ask yourself the three questionsnext to each task

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What happens if I don’t do this?

Will this help move my business closer to a goal?

Will the outcome become something I can build on?

These questions help you quickly figure out if something is actually important.

Step 3: Label each task with a simplecode

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“A” = Important and urgent → Do it now.

“B” = Important but not urgent → Schedule it.

“C” = Urgent but not important → Delegate it or politely decline.

“D” = Not important and not urgent → Delete it.

Step 4: Block out at least 1 hour a day for B tasks (important but not urgent)

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This is where the real shift happens. These are the tasks that no one’s chasing you to do — but they’re what actually move your business forward.

Set a standing rule for yourself. For example:

Every morning from 10 to 11 am: only B tasks.

Or, Wednesday afternoons are for “system improvement” — things like updating your website, refining processes, or setting long-term goals.

It’s just like exercise: you don’t do it when you “have time,”

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you do it because you’ve made time.

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Busy is a state. Important is a choice.

The truth is, most small business owners aren’t “not working hard enough.”
They’re simply pulled in so many directions that there’s no space left for the things that actually make the business stronger.

You might have been flat out all day — buttake a moment and ask yourself:

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Are you fixing problems… or building something for the future?

The Eisenhower Matrix isn’t about being perfect.
It’s about being clearer — knowing which tasks truly deserve your time, and which ones you can let go.

And if you start doing just a little more of the “important but not urgent” work each day,

your business will become more focused, more resilient, and far more aligned with your long-term goals.

We see this all the time when reviewing clients’ operational data:
The business looks fine on the surface, clients are coming in —
but every day is reactive. There’s no time to plan, no time to improve.
In the end, golden opportunities pass by because there’s simply no room to grabthem.

So if you’re feeling like you’re always busy but never really moving forward,
the issue probably isn’t your capability —

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it’s that you’ve been stuck doing what’s urgent, instead of what’s truly important.

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