Urgent! Make The Most Of Your Life

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” — Mae West

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

— Mae West

Urgent vs. Important

Many people confuse urgent with important. Urgent tasks typically have an immediate deadline, but relatively insignificant impact.

Important tasks, on the other hand, are not necessarily urgent, may or may not have a deadline, but often significantly impact our lives.

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

A Fancier Treadmill is NOT the Answer

When we know which tasks are important, as opposed to urgent, we also know what to eliminate, delegate, or automate. If we focus on urgent tasks all the time, reacting to deadlines, stressors, advertisements (Limited-time offer! Prime Day! Ending soon!) and other’s agendas, we don’t have time for ourselves and our priorities. It’s so easy to get caught in a whirlwind of must-dos, scarcity, and urgency, but to what end?

If we hustle all day, checking boxes, and putting out fires, where does that leave us? Unfortunately, often in exactly the same place that we started.

It’s a treadmill, a very fancy Peloton Tread that “empowers you to run farther, train better and recover smarter with a range of total body workouts that keep you motivated every step of the way.” Who doesn’t want that?!

Distractions are increasingly seductive and fun, and we often willingly opt in. It feels healthy. It feels productive. It feels like progress.

How many buy books they never read, sign up for courses they never finish, and watch home improvement videos with the best intentions, but never actually do the work?