📪 HH #73: Stop the false alarms – How better planning kills “urgency” fires
- Justin Hubbard
- Mar 23
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 29
6:00 AM and your phone buzzes -- a worker calls out.
By 8:00, a client is demanding an “urgent” fix or job that wasn’t scheduled.
By noon, you’re knee-deep rearranging tomorrow’s jobs.
Sound familiar?
For many home service business owners, every day feels like firefighting. But here’s the hard truth learned over years in the trades: most of those “urgent” fires are self-inflicted – the result of poor planning.
In fact, one survey found owners spend only 34% of their time on important, urgent work – the rest gets eaten by distractions and needless fixes. No wonder 42% of small business owners reported feeling burned out just last month.
As productivity expert David Allen puts it, “Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they’ve started.”
In other words, the chaos isn’t inevitable – it’s a sign that something slipped through the cracks earlier.
Overwhelm from constant “urgent” tasks – often a sign of tasks piling up due to lack of planning.
I learned this the hard way running my own hauling service.
Early on, I was scrambling daily: last-minute dump runs, frantic customer calls, equipment not ready when needed – every issue felt urgent. My poor planning was the villain.
I’d overbook days, forget to prep crews on the next job, and fail to buffer for the unexpected.
The result?
A daily adrenaline rush that left me drained and my team frustrated. I was busy but not productive.
I eventually realized “lack of planning on my part was creating emergencies for everyone.”
Once I owned that, I could fix it.
And fix it I did.
Here’s the good news, you can prevent 90% of these false alarms.
Productivity guru Cal Newport often warns that constant busyness (answering every “ASAP” email or call) tricks you into feeling productive when you’re really just treading water.
The key is shifting from reactive mode to a proactive one. Plan ahead, and you’ll find that many “urgent” issues never occur in the first place.
Think about that – the crisis in front of you might have been quietly brewing due to something you didn’t do last week. Time to break the cycle.
Tactical Tips: How to Kill the “Urgency” Spiral
Plan Your Week Before It Starts. Set aside time each week to map out your key jobs and tasks before they become urgent. Sunday night or Monday morning, review upcoming projects, client appointments, crew schedules, and deadlines.
By plotting the week, you spot conflicts or big jobs early (so you’re not blindsided on Thursday). Home service pros who plan weekly report less scrambling mid-week – you might even catch that you’re overbooked and can reschedule proactively.
Remember, 82% of people don’t use a dedicated time management system – simply having a weekly game plan already puts you ahead of the pack.
Prioritize (Don’t Let the “Urgent” Crowd Out the Important). Not everything that feels urgent is important. A ringing phone or a “ASAP please!!” text from a client can hijack your focus. Use a simple priority filter for your to-do list each day: identify which tasks are truly important to your business goals vs. which are just squeaky wheels.
Productivity legend Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said, “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.”
If a task became urgent only because you delayed it, acknowledge that. Focus each morning on 1-2 important (but not yet urgent) tasks – whether it’s equipment maintenance or sending estimates – before you dive into reactive busywork.
This prevents important work from turning into a last-minute fire drill. (Your future self will thank you when that equipment is ready before it breaks or the estimate is done before the client has to chase you.)
Schedule Buffer Time for Surprises. In home services, things will go wrong – a job runs long, a part is unavailable, a crew truck gets a flat tire. You can’t plan if surprises happen, but you can plan for them happening.
Pro tip: schedule your day at 80% capacity, not 100%. If you think the team can finish all jobs by 5:00 PM, schedule them until 4:00 or 4:30. That built-in buffer gives you breathing room to handle the truly urgent issues that do arise (and lets you stay on track when nothing goes wrong). It also forces you to be realistic – if you only have 7 productive hours in a day, don’t book 10 hours of work.
Owners who leave buffer time report far less stress from unplanned events, because their whole day’s plan isn’t blown when one thing runs over. Give yourself margin for error. It’s like carrying a spare tire – you hope you won’t need it, but you’ll be darn glad it’s there when you do.
Delegate and Empower Your Team. If every minor issue has to go through you, small problems will pile up into a mountain of “urgent” demands on your plate. Train your crew to solve what they can on their own, and clearly assign responsibilities so tasks aren’t forgotten.
For example, if an assistant can handle reordering supplies, you won’t get an urgent call that you’re out of PVC pipe on the job. If a crew leader is empowered to appease a mildly unhappy client on-site, you won’t get a 7 PM “customer is furious, call ASAP” message.
Holding a quick morning huddle can align the team on the day’s plan and backup options, so everyone knows what to do when surprises pop up. By delegating, you prevent “upward delegation” of every issue back to you.
The side benefit? Your employees feel more ownership and often catch issues before they become emergencies. Your business shouldn’t rely on you heroically putting out fires all day; a strong team handles the sparks before they ignite.
Use Systems to Capture and Remind. Many urgent tasks are born from forgetting something until it’s almost too late. The cure is a reliable system outside your head to capture tasks, deadlines, and follow-ups. Whether you use a simple notebook, Google Calendar, or a job management app, write down every task and schedule it.
Need to renew your license or permit by the 30th? Put a reminder on the 15th before it becomes an emergency scramble on the 29th. Have a client who wants a patio cleaning in three months? Log it now – don’t rely on memory.
According to the American Psychological Association, 20% of adults regularly procrastinate tasks to the point where it harms their productivity. Don’t be that person.
Set up recurring reminders for maintenance tasks (so your equipment service doesn’t become an urgent repair), and checklists for end-of-day close-outs (so you don’t find out at 10 PM that no one refueled the truck for tomorrow). These small systems prevent the “oops, I forgot” moments that breed crises.
In short: if it needs doing, plan it, assign it, or automate it. Future you will have far fewer headaches.
The difference between an owner who’s constantly stressed and one who confidently runs the day often boils down to planning. When you proactively handle the important things, you’ll find that truly urgent emergencies are rare.
You’ll end your days feeling accomplished rather than exhausted. Instead of wearing “busy” as a badge of honor, you’ll start wearing “prepared” as your secret weapon.
Remember, your ultimate goal is to work on your business, not remain trapped in a vortex of daily emergencies.
As the saying goes, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Flip that script – by succeeding to prepare, you’re preparing to succeed.
You’ve got this!
Each step you take to plan better is one less fire you’ll have to put out tomorrow. Here’s to a calmer, more controlled operation and reclaiming your time. Now go take charge of your schedule – before it takes charge of you.
Keep hauling (with a plan) and stay in the driver’s seat!✌️
Justin Hubbard
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