We all have goals we want to accomplish in life. In pursuit of our future goals, we also must live in the present. That means there is always a long list of what is necessary for today. When you consider your to-do list, it can be difficult to identify what is Urgent and what is Important. To many people, these words are synonymous.
Before COVID-19, we would say that we were addressing life by doing important things. Our lives look different than they did 90 days ago, yet somehow, we are a bit happier now than we were when doing what was “important.” Why is that? Perhaps what we thought Important was actually just Urgent.
The Urgent are tasks that have a deadline. They seem to make demands and scream “Finish Now,” but when do the urgent things ever end? There remains an endless need to respond to emails, complete project deadlines, finish the laundry, and return calls. We do our best to find an endpoint that will allow us to sleep peacefully, only to rise the next day and immediately return to the “urgent” tasks.
All the while, what is Important is often left undone. Keeping contact with family and friends, starting the book we wanted to write or making that decision about the retirement account we wanted to open. Many Important things do not have deadlines. Most tasks that are Important are not Urgent. Important things in life quietly speak to us about our futures and require intentional effort. Unlike the Urgent, when we do the important things they will last for generations to come.
If Urgent and Important were people, who would you like to work for?
This post was inspired by the book “The Tyranny of the Urgent” by Charles Hummel. Check it out.