Urgent and Important
Source: Mindtools Published: November 2016
Source: Mindtools
Published: November 2016
Urgent and Important
Circulated: December 13, 2019
“I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. President, 1953 to 1961
Urgent means that a task requires immediate attention.
Important tasks are things that contribute to our long-term mission, values, and goals.
Urgent & Important (Priority 1)
Fire-fighting & customer escalations
Broken business processes
Feelings of stress and crises; can cause burnout
Not Urgent & Important (Priority 2)
Relationship and team building
Long-term, strategic planning
Feelings of being under control, calmness, and planning
Urgent & Not Important (Priority 3)
Unnecessarily checking email
Coworker interruptions
Feelings of interruptions
Not Urgent & Not Important (Priority 4)
Unproductive meetings
Scrolling through social media
Feelings of distraction