The Tyranny of Urgency

The Tyranny of Urgency

“When it comes to managing our lives, our greatest danger is to let the urgent things crowd out the important ones”. I’m not sure who said this, but it’s true.

“Let me look at your calendar and your checkbook, and I’ll tell you what your priorities are”, Norm, an old, now deceased Pastor, mentor, and friend.

If you’re like me, your phone alerts you to e-mails, texts, many other notifications, and incoming calls. Have you noticed how hard it is not to keep checking for messages or alerts? They all seem so urgent.

Technology isn’t a bad thing in itself. But it illustrates our tendency to be consumed with anything that seems urgent. There’s so much seemingly urgent stuff in our lives that it keeps many of us in a perpetual state of stress. The problem is that we often neglect important things because of urgent things.

Which can and will eventually lead to a crisis of some sort: our neglected spouse walks out, our child has a mental meltdown, a health crisis occurs, or something else. Suddenly, we’re experiencing trauma, and we don’t have the faith or supportive relationships to handle it. So, the question is this: how much of what seems so urgent in our daily life is important?

Try carving out twenty minutes this week. Sit down and think about what you want to be your priorities. Put the most important things at the top of your list and the least important items, by degree, further down. And decide to carve out time for the “first things first.”

Here’s a list of possible categories: physical fitness (of course), time with spouse, family, faith, prayer, friendships, career advancement, and work. Add anything that you think I missed to your priority list.

It’s your priority list, so put it in order of what is most important to you. Add one additional category to humor me: “stuff that makes me look or feel busy”. This category includes technology, unnecessary time on the smartphone, gaming, TV, scrolling on social media, etc.

And make a second decision. To only spend time on that when you’ve already spent it on your priorities. Take your list, and consider where you spend your time and money. Are your priorities getting their fair share? Left unmanaged, the important usually yield to the tyranny of the urgent. So, let’s start fighting for what is important in our lives.

Whether you are a peak athlete, weekend warrior, or a Mom or Dad on the go, don’t forget I’m always available for free consultations to help you create a personalized fitness plan to get you the desired results! No charge and no obligation! Call or text me: at 410-598-4074.