Sometimes it’s important to get a task finished as quickly as possible.

Urgent tasks might include fixing a water leak.
Or taking care of a friend or family member or a child who is suddenly sick.
Or putting out a fire.

That’s true urgency. Lives are on the line.

But, I do assert that this isn’t as common of a scenario as we often think.

Or at least it shouldn’t be.

Here are some things that should never be urgent, but often times are: Packing for a planned trip. Getting to a meeting on time. Responding to an email. Finishing up a strategic project.

Work with less urgency and more intention.

Here are a few tips:

• Set reasonable deadlines.
• Schedule time for project planning.
• Work efficiently, but not “in a rush”.
• Avoid putting having to place things into the “urgent and important” quadrant.

Benjamin Franklin said that “haste makes waste”.

I say that urgency is the incubator of idiocy.

Same difference.

Schedule what’s important so you’re not forced to work in the same quadrant as firefighters and ER nurses.