Nowadays, there are so many things competing for our attention. It’s not only the number of things but their urgency too, that often can be challenging. It’s true both in work and outside of it. There are so many things that we need to do now, that we cannot find the time to do… what’s important for us.
First, we need to make clear distinction between things that are Urgent (needs to be done quickly) and Important (are significant for us). In daily life, we can mix those two quite often. There are so many urgent things to do, that we feel they are important at the certain moment. It can be an urgent email from our boss, urgent report, an urgent request from the customer, urgent shopping we need to do, urgent repair in our car or apartment, urgent visit of our friends that require urgent clean-up, and so on and on. Now think of those examples. Did you have any similar situations in last month that were really urgent?
Now think about those examples again. Were those really important things? Would they get you one step closer to what you would like to achieve? Or was it more of a managing our daily reality? I think the true answer is they were not hugely important, but simply required at given time.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Urgent things need to be done on time and cannot be neglected. They are urgent for a reason. So we cannot just stop doing them. Still remember the difference between those two categories. In a few words:
- Urgent things: help us to manage our daily life
- Important things: help us to achieve our long-term goals
Having that in mind make sure that you have time for important things by appropriate planning. Spending all your time in address urgent topics may not be good in a long term.
How to get important things done?
To answer above question first you need to understand what important really means for you. When doing your daily ‘To-Do List’, try to flag each item from the list with either ‘U’ or ‘I’, to show in which area it falls under. That is the first step to understanding what activities are really important for you – make difference in the long-term.
Moreover, sometimes things will be both Urgent and Important or neither as well. To help manage those more complex cases I’ve created for you table below. Each activity you are planning can be quickly assessed from the urgency and importance perspective. As a result, we have 4 areas to consider. Let’s have a look:
- Focus – Obviously it’s best to start planning your day from important things. What is more surprising, it’s better if those are not urgent activities. It’s only because often things that make difference in the long run, don’t have to be done right now (non-urgent). They are more of investments we can postpone on and on. Thus we tend to deprioritize them in favor of ad hoc important items. Start your day with ‘Focus’ activities, if needed wake up earlier to do so. Follow very simple rule: do important things first.
- Manage – obviously there will be plenty urgent tasks that are important as well. Although planning helps, probably you will do them anyway due to their urgency. Execute them after ‘Focus’ items, to manage daily challenges. Nonetheless, make sure they are not driving your agenda entirely.
- Avoid – This area represents multiple interruptions you face during each day. Some small things that should be done already (urgent). Still, they are not really important to you. Make sure you avoid them as much as possible.
- Limit – Here we have classic ‘time-wasters’. They do not bring value to you, there is also no pressure to do them now. Watch out on this area. It can be time spend on watching TV or browsing the internet that ultimately feels like wasted. If possible limit entirely such activities.
The only addition to above would be entertainment. Some would say it is included in an area no. 4, but I would strongly disagree. We need time to rest and have a good fun. That give us motivation and energy to follow our goals (important items) and manage daily challenges (urgent items). When planning your week, make sure you have blocked time for entertainment as well!
Summary
I’m glad I could share this topic with you as I think it’s really relevant. Too often in our lives we are being driven by daily urgent matters, only to realize that we do not have time for what is important (our goals, family, friends etc.). Try to use above as general guidance when planning your week and afterward when spending your time in one of those 4 areas highlighted.
Best,
Tom