Things Without a Deadline
Urgent is a brutal cycle.
Living up against deadlines forces everything to be urgent. Every project, every email, every voice mail, every appointment.
The urgent things are often also important and necessary, which justifies the pace. Everything is mission-critical. Everything must be done tomorrow.
Or tonight.
Or now.
When there is downtime it’s easy to let the brain run on default. Do the thing that is not at all urgent or important. Turn off. Shut down. I need this. We tend toward “all or nothing.” Especially in the urgent times. Sprint. Collapse. Repeat.
And while in certain seasons this may be necessary, it’s no way to live. Living only with the urgent means never having time with your most important goals. The strategic tasks that are mission-critical, but don’t have a deadline (at least not yet). Project planning and systems building tend to fall into this category. Assessment, reflection, and creative work.
If you are living in the urgent, stop saying “someday”.
Someday I’ll write a book.
Someday I’ll start a new business.
Someday we’ll travel to Europe.
Someday.
Someday never comes if you spend your life in the urgent.
Figure out a time to focus on the important things.