Urgent vs Important

Your brain loves urgent. It’s the ego part of the brain that enjoys the drama of attention.

Urgent sits there screaming at you. It wants you to notice. Meanwhile, the quite and wise important projects sit and wait for you to do your part.

You act on the important and it rewards you with progress.

Urgent can stop trouble but it can’t progress you any further than where you are. Putting out fires can be a part of life. A fire left to burn too long can bring the house down. But there are also fires that burn themselves out. Like the whinging person who just wants to dump their problems in your lap because you’re good at dealing with these things and they’re not.

To lead means bringing out the best in others. And that also means empowering them. Which in lay terms means, let them deal with their own shit! A person who whinges and complains who is left to their own will either burn themselves out or put out their own fire.

Your job is the important stuff. Important needs to stay top of pile. Learn to lead by teaching others to work on important instead of urgent. Set the example by constantly re-visiting important yourself.

You can progress yourself by working on your important stuff. But when you shift your attention and help others in your organisation begin to focus on ticking off their own important items, you are progressing the world.

 

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *