What should you know?
Have you ever looked back on a busy week only to realise you’ve hardly made any progress on your important tasks despite it feeling like you’ve worked every hour god sent?
The problem isn’t that you’re not working hard enough, but rather that you’re working too hard on the wrong things.
Studies show that when people are deciding which tasks to work on, they will consistently prioritise urgent tasks over important tasks – even when the urgent task isn’t aligned with the long term plan.
Urgent: Time-sensitive tasks or activities that require quick attention to avoid near-term consequences.
Important: Tasks or activities that are more strategic in nature and support your personal and/or professional long-term goals.
Why should you care?
Urgency often acts as a set of blinkers, directing attention solely to tasks that demand immediate action, regardless of their true importance. However, not all urgent matters are crucial; some are merely distractions that direct focus away from more significant priorities.
Leaving truly important tasks, such as defining a plan to reach your financial and life goals, until ‘later’ may result in them being repeatedly pushed aside to accommodate new ‘urgent’ demands. Delaying them too long can make dealing with them so difficult as to be daunting and uncomfortable.
Altering your focus and dedicating time to tasks that are true priorities allows you to be more productive in the pursuit of your long-term success, without being constantly distracted by momentary urgencies.
