The management cycle is about getting things done but also about stepping back from things to analyse what you're doing.
You are noting things in your task planner, and you're setting yourself objectives and tasks; trying to fit things into a short-term, medium-term, long-term plan, fixing goals and then doing things on a daily basis.
You're firefighting, doing essential things, responding to the accountant, responding to customers, filling in the forms.
Invest time in your strategy, but get a handle on whether things are going the right way. Find measures to help you.
You don't always know which way to go. You should determine the way things are going now and then reaffirm the way you want things to go.
It may be harder to express the way you want things to go.
Base your objectives on the way things are now.
Start with a baseline description of your system which says this is the way things are; this is the way things work, this is the process, focusing on the function of the system.
Try to improve the system, make it more profitable, to configure it in a particular way. It might not just be about money but about specific things to achieve, things you enjoy doing more than others. Set your objectives towards those things.
The objective is to improve things.
I use GTD to set myself tasks in colour plans, at different levels, different horizons, different levels of focus short-term, medium-term long-term.
The objective may be in a particular direction but also, for things to be easier to achieve. There is no point in things being difficult per se, so take the path of least resistance.
The real objective is to operate more smoothly by being more efficient and in this way make more money.
The idea of a cycle is to do, measure (some indicators) and then look back at how things have gone.
A simple case is in translation. Measuring the time to do orders, the number of words done in an hour helps to make reasonable estimates. On-time delivery improves relationships with customers because delivery is on-time when assessments are correct.
This measurement helps to fix costs, prices, and to know what the rate should be. The result helps to improve performance and makes work more comfortable. Productivity may also improve by focusing on just one job rather than two.
So, this cycle goes around; the baseline management system described in a system diagram. The idea is to "do" for a while, measure and then go back and look at the results.