A lot of managers and business-owners secretly love putting out fires because it makes them feel like heroes. Doing strategic project work for the first 1-1 hours of your day puts you in proactive mindset. Even though crises may spring up during the day, at least you have the comfort of knowing you're doing something to prevent these problems from reoccurring. In other words, doing strategic project work gives you a sense control and a feeling that that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. When I speak at seminars about the hour and a half of uninterrupted strategic project work, I often hear a chorus of protests from the audience.
People talk about the emergencies that require their attention.
Realistically, you'll accomplish more in that hour and a half of strategic project work than the other 7 hours of crisis management combined. That's what you're in business for. Ironically, most managers don't do it. They react to deadlines - submitting to the tyranny of the urgent. It's the tedious, mindless reporting and paperwork that simply has to be done.