Page 25 - Mini-Module 10

Urgency

Consider whether the action is urgent. Do you really have to do it
now? Urgency refers to time pressure to complete the task.
Would it be more effective to do it at another time? It is vital that
you distinguish between urgent tasks and important tasks. Urgent
tasks can often be unimportant but have a tendency to push really
important tasks into the background. Unless urgent or ‘crisis’ tas
need your immediate attention you should not spend too much
time on them. There is the danger that important tasks could be
pushed into the background. These important tasks are those
activities which are tied to your identified key results areas. Urgent
tasks are often initiated by others – you should attempt to control
the amount of time you spend on them.

You need to consider also the order in which tasks should be done.
This is called prioritizing. Both the urgency and importance of the
task need to be accounted for. One way to do this is presented in
the figure on the right.

● If a task is very important and very urgent, you must do it
immediately. It cannot wait and is congruent with what you
believe is important.
● If a task is very important but not urgent, you have time to
work on it. You can even delegate parts of it to start the
process. Be careful not to put these tasks off for too long.
Remember, they are important to achieving your overall goals.

● If a task is very urgent but not important, you can deal with it
in two ways. Do it now but do not spend too much time on it
– get it out of the way quickly. Alternatively, delegate it to
someone else.

● If a task is neither important nor urgent ask yourself whether
you should even be doing it. These tasks should be shelved,
ignored or delegated.

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