Comments on: Separating the Urgent and the Important http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/ Financial talk for the rest of us Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:14:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Nicole http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944571 Nicole Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:41:52 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944571 I also think this could be better, but the point is taken.

]]> By: Julia http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944566 Julia Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:13:15 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944566 @Tracy,
I got that too, about the junk mail and telemarketers. I think he’s calling them urgent because they call for your attention NOW. Everytime the phone rings it’s saying “Pay attention to me NOW” no matter who is calling or why. Junk mail, however, is not a very good example – especially considering how often I pick up the mail and stick it in an inbox to be dealt with later. The only “urgent” thing there is to minimize the pieces of paper with my personal information that is just sitting in a mailbox where any motivated a-hole can get to it. If not for that I would often let my mail pile up for a couple weeks before collecting it.

]]> By: Justin http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944527 Justin Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:33:50 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944527 Great post!

I think most people would agree that when we let the urgent get more attention than the important, we come to regret it.

Answering the phone when you’re in a face to face conversation with someone you care about. Working on filing useless paperwork instead of going after new clients. Watching the “late breaking news” instead of spending time with your family.
Eating tons of fast food instead of cooking something a bit healthier.

All of these (and so much more) are examples of placing the urgent first, and in the long run they will hurt us more than help us!

]]> By: kristine http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944525 kristine Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:53:12 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944525 I also immediately recognized this as the 4-quadrants, the rocks and pebbles too…
but it did not bother me- he is focusing on the larger sense having priorites straight, and not indulging distractions.

However, I find this is written for home use, or for the self-employed. At work, the best strategy is always to make your boss’s priorities your own priorities, even if said boss flails in reactionary trivilaities most of the time, and wants you to service the minutia. Most supervisors only see their own priorities as important, and always urgent.

]]> By: Tracy http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944522 Tracy Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:20:34 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944522 @Mel – See, I might buy that “unimportant/non-urgent things were ignored because in this case they’re irrelevant” but I honestly think Trent just remembered the concept from somewhere and got it wrong.

Because he goes on to say:

“I try to minimize the time I spend on “urgent but unimportant” tasks. I don’t mind hanging up on telemarketers. I chuck the junk mail as soon as I see it. I try to handle pieces of paper only once.”

I just can’t imagine a world in which anybody classifies junk mail or telemarketers as urgent!

]]> By: Andrew http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944520 Andrew Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:04:40 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944520 Excuse me, but I must go–I have an urgent need to make my own laundry detergent.

]]> By: 20 and Engaged http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944516 20 and Engaged Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:13:30 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944516 I work in the 4 quadrant system, similar to what Tracy was mentioning. I focus on things in Quadrant 1 first (urgent/important), then mainly on Quadrant 2 (important, not urgent). Quadrant 3 usually has a due date (not important, urgent), and whenever I have free time I focus on Quadrant 4 (not urgent, not important) since it’s usually leisure activities that I want to do.

]]> By: Mel http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944508 Mel Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:14:32 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944508 @Tracy: I disagree that it’s not clearly explained. I think Trent has explained well what he was trying to – which is different from what you said. The unimportant/non-urgent things were ignored because in this case they’re irrelevant – they’re not jumping for your attention in the same way unimportant/urgent things are.

As for the pants example (“trousers” for the Brits), it’s not so far-fetched. One example: I was running late for the bus to meet my boyfriend’s granny to go to a concert. I wanted to wear the “perfect” pants, but because we’d just moved everything was a mess and I couldn’t find them. Finding them was “urgent”, getting there on time was “important”. So I ended up wearing the not-so-perfect pants that I could find, and got there on time.

]]> By: Tracy http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944504 Tracy Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:07:03 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944504 This is basically the important/urgent matrix (google) it, except that it’s simplified. Unfortunately, it’s not explained well in this post at all, which makes it not particularly useful. Important and urgent are NOT opposites, as Trent implies (and even acknowledges when he says that some things are both – but he forgets to realize some things are neither!)

Everything basically has one of four (not two) options:

Important/Urgent
Unimportant/Urgent
Important/Not-Urgent
Unimportant/Not-Urgent

In whose world is ‘finding the perfect pair of pants’ urgent? Nice, but not urgent – I would say that for most people, most of Trent’s ‘urgents’ … aren’t. His examples fall into the not-important/not-urgent category – and so yes, they should be just dismissed.

The trick is to make sure quadrant A (Important/Urgent) gets your time and attention first – and gets taken care of. The other thing you’re supposed to try to do is find out which ones are likely to occur and find ways to be proactive (I mean, taxes are due every April – it may be urgent/important now, but if you start work in Jan/Feb on them, they’re still only important/not-urgent)

You then basically figure out a way to split your time up between urgent/not-important and important/not-urgent that works. Try to minimize the time you spend on urgent/non-important by blocking out specific time, delegating, rescheduling, or, in some cases, multi-tasking. Block out specific times to focus on important/not-urgent items and make it a good amount.

(And keep in mind that urgent/not important can turn into urgent/important if it’s *not* attended to)

]]> By: Stephan F- http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2011/04/12/separating-the-urgent-and-the-important/#comment-944503 Stephan F- Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:55:22 +0000 http://www.thesimpledollar.com/?p=6913#comment-944503 Almost all of those Urgent items are things that are interruptions that we react to and not things we have chosen to act on. I think that is the biggest difference.Too often we spend time reacting instead of acting. And I think that is where we most mess up our lives.
Isn’t most office work about reacting to the urgent and not acting on the important. How many times have we hid out in an empty conference room or coming in early/staying late to get real work done. Isn’t it much the same?

]]>