Urgent and Important – Reclaiming your Productivity
It is predicted that people spend HALF their time on tasks that are not urgent and not important.
Moving from high and low value activities, hourly rates, and Zero-Based Thinking, let’s focus on Urgent and Important.
Understanding Urgent and Important
Stephen Covey and Roger Merrill in “First Things First” introduced the idea of time allocation under Urgent and Important.
Urgent activities need to be handled, and NOW, or there will be significant consequences. While not all tasks have a sense of urgency, some may still have significant consequences. For example, it might not be urgent that you exercise (today), but over time the lack of commitment to your health could have a life-threatening or altering impact.
Quadrants of Urgency and Importance
Urgent and Important is based on these four quadrants:
Both Urgent and Important. These are tasks that must be done immediately. The success of your business (or your life) depends on it.
Not Urgent but Important. These you can delay, temporarily. These can have the greatest possible consequences (positive or negative) in the long run. For example, fitness might fit into this category, or in business, writing that proposal or bidding on that “thing.”
Urgent but Not Important. These tasks are “in front of you” but don’t have a lasting impact on your life. This might be the phone ringing, a new email, or the coworker that wants to “pick your brain.” Most people spend their time here and fool themselves into thinking these tasks are most important.
Neither Urgent nor Important. These are ultimately a waste of time. They merely steal your time from other items that are important. They offer little reward in return. Today we could use examples such as drive-thru’s, mindless binge-watching, scrolling social media endlessly, etc. It is predicted that people spend HALF their time here.
The strategy to maximize your effectiveness is to tackle #1, then #2 in that order. After that, you can decide on either 3 or 4, but recognize that neither are truly important.
Want to learn more? Let’s connect.
Adapted from “Effectiveness 2.5 Focus Your Time – Part 3 Urgent and Important” by FocalPoint Coaching and Training Excellence, Copyright 2018, by Brian Tracy and Campbell Fraser. Reprinted with permission.
