Focusing our time with intention: Urgent vs Important.

Have you ever had the experience of being busy without ever really getting anything significant done?  Me too! You are not alone. This is a very common experience when we are called to accomplish something meaningful in our lives.

Enter ‘Urgent vs Important’ ! (Tadah!!) This distinction has played such a role in helping me to act in a way that is consistent with my visions and goals… and so, I hereby dedicate a post entirely to this concept.

Some things are urgent… as in they are very time sensitive and demand to be done right away.

Somethings are important… as in these are actions that have a large impact in terms of moving you forward towards some goal or vision.

Combine these two concepts and you get the following matrix.

The key to living a more productive, fulfilling life is to shift more and more of our time into quadrant 2 (Important but not Urgent). In doing so, we are able to use our time in an increasingly intentional manner.

How of your time are you dedicating to each of these quadrants?

What would it be like to know you are focusing your time effectively on taking important actions that have the greatest return in terms of achieving your goals and dreams?

May the force be with you!

 

PS: Many thanks to the late Stephen Covey for introducing me to this idea via his fantastic book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. Absolutely a must read!!