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Don't Fall
into the Urgency Trap

It’s easy to get distracted by urgent tasks. You tell yourself you’re only going to answer that one email. Then an hour goes by, and you realize you’ve done nothing but answer emails. Those “urgent” messages have just wiped out your hour-long strategy session!

Dwight D. Eisenhower was a master of optimally managing short-term crises and long-term strategic goals. Academics call this dissonance between important and urgent tasks the Eisenhower Paradox.

 

Important tasks advance our strategic goals. For example, working on a five-year plan for your business. Urgent tasks are ones that narrow our focus. For example, answering a bunch of emails.

FACTS:

  • Urgent tasks scream for attention.

  • Important tasks help you meet long-term goals.

  • The two are rarely the same.

We tend to prioritize tasks that we perceive as time-sensitive over tasks that aren’t, even when the rewards of the non-time-sensitive task are objectively greater. This is the Urgency Trap!

 

Sometimes the urgent thing is also the most important. Being aware of this bias toward the urgent, will help you make better decisions. Especially the most important decision, “what will I do next?”

 

Turn off email notifications on your phone. And budget some of your valuable attention for long-term goals.

SOLUTIONS:

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Try the Urgency Test, to gain perspective on whether you are falling for the urgency bias.

Do your weekly attention budget.

Create a Do Not Do (DND) list. This is a list of things you will literally never do.

“What is urgent is seldom important

and what is important is seldom urgent."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower,

led the Allied Forces to victory in World War II, founded NASA,

and was the only US President to balance the budget

(not once, but 3 times).

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© 2022 Sherpa Performance Guide and Peak Business Performance

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