Important vs. Urgent⏰

Your day | Deadlines | Essentialism

Last week, I talked about having your 70-year-old self write a letter to your 40-year-old self and in doing so, reframed and accelerated your change. This week, I will discuss what is important.

As we are getting ready for the September restart heading to the last part of 2022, it is important to get our priorities right as so many people are confused between what is urgent and what is important. 

Recognizing the difference between urgent and important can greatly impact the quality and productivity of your personal and professional life.

Urgent tasks are mostly tasks with an immediate deadline or, even worse, a deadline that has passed. Often they come from someone else, someone who directs your time. These urgent tasks don't need to be time-consuming or effort-intensive but often they become so and end up using most of your energy and time

On the other hand, important tasks don’t need to have a deadline looming over the person. They are important because of the impact that they can have on a person's life. They are long-term, they are core, they are drives. Those don’t need to be time-consuming or effort-intensive and you may not need to do them immediately, but beware…they too often end up at the bottom of the to-do list, leaving space for the urgent.

The urgency of tasks is based on deadlines. Deciding which task is important is relative to each person's thoughts and circumstances. In other words, urgency is driven by external factors and external pressure. Deciding the importance of tasks is a reflective exercise.

Some tasks can be urgent and important, and those should be top of the list.

The urgency of a task is largely governed by deadlines, whereas the importance of a task is decided by the impact it can have on your life.

Question:

What is really essential for you today?