May Busch* says it’s easy to forget about the important things in life when you’re being overwhelmed by other people’s ‘urgent’ agendas.
Do you find it hard to get through all the things on your to-do list?
If you’re like most of us, you’re getting the urgent things done – like getting that memo to your boss by 9am, meeting a project deadline for your client and showing up at the all-hands-on-deck meeting.
But what about the things that are important but not urgent?
These are the easiest to put off until ‘later’ when you’ll ‘have more time’.
Things like building your network, paving the way for your next promotion, and investing in your professional development.
Big chunks of time don’t magically appear, so you’re essentially putting those important things off – in some cases, indefinitely.
When you don’t attend to the important but not urgent, you put yourself and your career at risk.
If you wait for the important to become urgent, it’s often too late.
You can’t build your network at the last moment because relationships take time to build.
You’re unlikely to get a promotion if you haven’t taken the steps along the way to get the key decision-makers to know who you are.
To avoid the negative consequences of falling prey to what’s urgent – especially someone else’s urgent agenda – here are some steps you can take.
Assess how you’re doing:
Figure out where things stand in terms of your focus on the urgent versus the important.
Make two lists side-by-side.
On the left side of the page, write down all the urgent things you have to do — anything with a deadline looming or that it’s your job to get done soon.
On the right side, write down the important things you’d like to focus on but aren’t urgent.
This could be things related to your career and personal development – becoming a better leader or building that all-important network.
Step back and assess your lists.
I suggest you take a matter-of-fact approach and don’t get emotional about it.
Hardly anyone excels at focusing on the important but not urgent, so we’re aiming for progress not perfection.
What do you notice about the urgent list on the left versus the important (but not urgent) list on the right?
Which one is longer? Which one is easier to get done?
If you keep a to-do list, which of the important (but not urgent) items are already on your list and how long have they been there?
Is there anything missing on either list that you’d like to add?
Decide what to focus on first:
Taking a look at the important (but not urgent) list, you’ll probably have quite a few candidates that deserve some more attention.
While it’s tempting to take on several of the big, important items you’ve been putting off, it isn’t realistic.
Choose one important (but not urgent) item to focus on first.
I recommend starting with an item that falls into one of the following three categories:
The thing that will most move the needle if you started working on it now.
The thing you’re most worried about or that’s most bothering you.
The most urgent of the important (but not urgent).
You’re the best judge of where to start. The important thing is to choose one and get going.
Make it doable:
Once you’ve identified your first important (but not urgent) item to focus on, it’s time to make it doable.
Often those items are big and conceptual, like ‘work on my career’, ‘honour my relationships’, ‘get promoted’ or ‘get in shape’.
They’re daunting to think about, hard to make time for and easy to put off.
That’s why this step is about taking those ‘big rocks’ and chunking them down to smaller pieces.
For example, one of my important (but not urgent) items is to honour my relationships and keep in touch with my network.
So I challenge myself to reach out to one person a day.
That one step has made it simple, easy and even fun to work on my ‘big rock’.
Work it into your daily routine:
Now that you’ve got concrete, actionable steps the key is to find ways to work them into your daily routine.
If you do a little each day, you’ll be amazed how much you can achieve.
In most cases, it’s not about creating big chunks of time but rather making better use of the time you have.
For example, I tend to do my daily reaching out in the evening because it’s a nice treat for me toward the end of the day.
Plus, that gives me all day to think of who to connect with.
Focusing on what’s important, even when it’s not urgent, is the key to your long-term success personally and professionally.
So don’t let the urgent agenda of others keep you from prioritising what matters most for you.
Don’t risk the disappointment of looking back one day and realising you’re miles away from where you wanted to be.
Instead, get in touch with what’s on your important (but not urgent) list, choose one thing to work on first, chunk it down into doable steps and do a little each day.
*May Busch works with entrepreneurs and managements to build their businesses. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared on May’s blogsite.
