When the fire is real – run! Otherwise…
Canmore AB – “What are you still doing here? The Fire’s coming – get the hell out!”
I imagine that was what the fire chief was yelling, to my wife’s uncle. A massive forest fire was moving quickly from the west – flames now visible from his house. Yet, there he was, spraying water from a garden hose onto his roof, desperately hoping that would save it!
His efforts were in vain.
This was back in May 2011 – when most of the town of Slave Lake, in northern Alberta was decimated by a large forest fire.
Fires that size are not as rare as you might think. Just 5 years later, an even bigger fire swept through the city of Fort McMurray, forcing 80,000 people to evacuate. My wife’s niece and her husband lost a home and a business in that one.
So, when our town posted signs that they were doing a forest fire emergency preparedness exercise this weekend, I thought – ‘good idea’. After all, our little mountain town is surrounded by forests and the past few summers we’ve suffered from intense smoke from fires near and far to the west of us.
“Be prepared!” is a scout motto. A good one too; like having a Plan B.
There’s a difference, however, to being prepared for an emergency and answering every phone call, email and message, as if they all were emergencies.
They’re not.
In fact, the more you make yourself available, the less valuable and less important you become, to your prospects and clients. Not to mention, the less you’ll accomplish on the most important tasks that will move you towards your goals.
I read about a study once, that the brain of a person who is constantly interrupted is like that of a person who is stoned. In other words, your effectiveness at completing tasks well or at all, when you are interrupted completely falls off a cliff.
The moral is, spend some time on planning your ‘exit’ or alternatives, in case things do not go your way but otherwise, block off your precious time to all other extraneous events.
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Meet your prospects and clients on your time, not theirs.
Until next week…
Stay healthy and focus on profit!
- Hugh
The “Profit Accelerator” Expert
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