As managers of small businesses we are constantly fighting and struggling against the flow. Customers, staff, suppliers, competitors and shareholders are all competing for our attention. Our minds can get buried in the day to day operations, the immediate dangers and the problems we think needed solving yesterday. Our concentration becomes the floor rather than the horizon, and what we should be focusing on disappears into oblivion. Just to help you think about things ask yourself these few questions:

Reflect on how well you  focus on

Opportunities rather than problems?

Purpose rather than tasks? 

Meaningful rather than money?

Real work rather than busy work?

Long term rather than short term?

Flexibility rather than control?

Trust rather than doubt?

Positive rather than cynicism? 

Then think about where you need to be spending more time. It may mean some change, it may mean changing a lot, but, being able to change where we spend our time as managers is a reflection on our ability, first, to reflect on our own growth needs, but also on where we create the most value.