Urgency doesn’t always signal importance.
Have you ever noticed that? Most of the time, when someone asks me to drop everything I’m doing and tend to something that requires immediate attention, they are asking me to abandon something substantial to do something else.
For instance, when I’m in the middle of a workday and my cell phone rings three times and I notice it’s the same person calling, I typically answer. I’m expecting to hear news about something catastrophic. Usually though, it’s just a friend who really wants to tell me a funny story or update me on some of her drama. This information doesn’t merit three phone calls in five minutes—and it certainly isn’t worth interrupting my work day for.
People do this with projects too. Suddenly your partner decides you need a diorama to use as a visual aid the night before the big presentation in your history class. Your small group leader calls in a panic because nobody is bringing dessert to Bible study and you really need to do it. Or you get ask to cover for someone who just flat dropped the ball.
On most occasions, the critical stuff is what gets scheduled on our calendars—it’s what we plan ahead for. The last minute stuff that often creeps up usually consists of nothing more than distractions. It’s a bright idea nobody thought of in time or a change of plans when the first plan will work just fine.
For years I got caught up in the urgent and I couldn’t figure out why I never got anything done. I would plan ahead and prepare, but I was always rushing at the last minute in every area of my life. I’m learning that just because something has to get done right now or it won’t get done in time, it doesn’t mean this urgent thing needs to be done by me or that it even needs to be done at all.
Last week I had three people come to me with urgent requests. They asked me to rearrange my schedule and get these things done. The problem was, my week was already filled with imperative things—things that really needed to be done. As I evaluated the urgent requests before me I noticed that the world wouldn’t stop if these tasks weren’t completed.
So I said no. I tried to be as nice as possible, but no doesn’t usually go over well no matter how you present it and I had three very startled people on my hands. It was almost like I could hear them saying, What about this urgent thing? If you don’t do it nobody will and it will go undone.
In the first case, a compromise was reached that involved the other person taking on the responsibility. The second situation was resolved with rescheduling this urgent item to a time where it could be given the attention it deserved. Unfortunately, the last situation ended with the urgent thing going undone. But you know what? Even that worked out ok.
The urgent situations that pelted me last week didn’t derail me. I protected my time and the things that were most valuable to me. Everything that truly needed to get done got done. By the weekend I was breathing a huge sigh of relief instead of scrambling in a panic. As I took in the calmness around me I realized that saying no had been difficult but it had been worth it.
I would exchange the chaos for the peace anytime.
What about you? Do you find yourself constantly bogged down with the urgent while the important goes unattended? How do you determine what really needs to be done and what just seems like it does? Who stands out to you as a good example of someone who knows how to balance the important and the urgent?
