The Urgent Keeps Us from the Important

on April 4th, 2008

Really loved this article as it relates to relationships, especially as I mull over One Month to Live. Here’s a clip from The Urgent vs. The Important:

Unfortunately, focusing on the urgent ensures that we’ll never get to the important. In order to make sure we’re doing what’s important, we need to find a way to ignore the urgent and focus on the important with steely resolve.

I struggle with this daily. (As I write this I’ve had 2 text messages and the doorbell rang!) As a person who makes his bread working on a computer, I find that it’s quite easy to get distracted. The web is a beautiful and social place, but not one well-suited for productivity. Eliminating urgent inputs is something that is going to continue to grow in importance, especially with the widespread adoption of iPhones and the like. Our world is continually becoming more connected. As a result, it’s going to be much harder to filter out the urgent stimuli.

How about you? Are there any methods that you use to really combat these urgent messages in our everyday lives?

JG


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chazzdaddy at 4:17pm April 4

honestly…i x out of them, turn it off and check out…or i get sucked in all the time…

when i hide…i hide and my agenda is my agenda.

but ohhhh, sooooo hard.

peace

Ange at 5:02pm April 4

Great post Josh. I think someone at church once said, ‘We need to ruthlessly eliminate hurry in our lives.’ I totally agree! When I’m on my laptop I can turn my internet switch off, which helps. and although I’m a fan of instant messaging, it can sometimes be more of a distraction than anything. I think it’s also helpful when I avoid myspace, twitter, facebook—the sites that can wait till later…

Tyler V at 6:48am April 5

I actually don’t IM (found my students don’t use them much), and I only check my email in the beginning of the day, after lunch, and before I leave the office. If I get an urgent email and don’t have time to respond, I put that on my important list to respond to as soon as I can.

I also set out blocks of the day that my staff knows as my “hiding time.” This time is when I don’t answer phone calls and I turn off my cell. I pray, work on my talk, write devos, etc. It’s truly a great time!