How to Tell the Difference Between Urgent vs. Important Things

Life can be such a juggling act. Like professional jugglers, we try to keep 5 or 6 balls moving through the air at the same time. But unlike professional jugglers, we rarely succeed. Everyone is so busy these days. Work is performed at a frantic pace and people are in such a hurry. There is an air of impatience and intolerance—a lot of frenetic darting to and fro that is almost out of control. It’s very difficult to keep your priorities in line when life is so fast paced. But the negative consequences of so much activity—stress, damaged or broken relationships, poor health---can wreak more havoc than what we think we will gain. If we're not careful urgent activities will monopolize our time and push the important things to the back burner. To sort out the confusion surrounding urgent vs. important tasks, consider the following steps.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Daily Calendar
• Notebook or pad and pen
• Time to think and reflect
• Perseverance

1. Identify those pressing or burning imperatives that are always assigned top priority and must be completed immediately.
2. Examine the critical or vital tasks that someone else insists be performed without delay.
3. Evaluate those unrelenting and persistent routine demands on your time.
4. Urgent things often masquerade as important. However, not everything you do is important. To identify what’s important to you requires that you answer three questions: "Will the activity I am about to participate in make a significant and lasting positive impact on others? Is what I am about to do an unselfish act that will bring happiness or joy to others? Do my actions and activities promote balance in my life or are they all-consuming?"
5. Distinguishing important things from urgent ones requires focus—a concentration of energy, effort, and thought. You should spend most of your time on the important things.
6. Prioritization is the key to managing urgent items and focusing on important ones. Before you leap to complete a task, take a few moments to think about its true priority. Does it need to be done right at this moment, or is there something else on your list that should come first?
7. While others may demand that everything on your "To-Do" List must be done immediately, you and only you can really determine what should be done first, second, third, etc. (It’s not possible to do everything at once; priority must be given to each item).

Tips & Warnings

• Use the resources below to help you prioritize the important things in your career.