You Need to Be More Like a Stoplight

You Need to Be More Like A Stoplight

I was running late for work one day as I came up on a stoplight right as it was turning red.

In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to hit the gas and blow through the light so I wouldn't have to be even more late than I already was. I had some choice words for this particular stoplight.

Now, I need to give some context.

I needed to be at the job by 8:45am. In order to clock in by 8:45 I needed to be in the parking lot by 8:43 so I could scan in, get my temperature taken, etc. before going to my job location. This stoplight was approximately 2 minutes away from the parking lot and it was 8:40.

I had plenty of time. I would probably be able to take a leisurely stroll to the front door at this rate. I may even clock in a minute early just for fun.

Now, why was I so mad?

Well, I had confused the important with the urgent.

Every task in life can fall into the "important" category or the "urgent" category. Sometimes both. Of course, some things may end up being "not important" and "not urgent," too.

The funny thing is these categories are also not totally objective. In fact, they are often quite subjective. What is important to me is not important to you. What is urgent to you is sometimes not urgent to me.

However, in general, people can usually come to a consensus on what is, in fact, important or urgent.

Consider my stoplight dilemma. Was it urgent for me to rush through this particular light? No. Was it important? Still no. Yet, my reaction was for it to be categorized as both important and urgent.

There is definitely a reason for this but we will stay focused on our stoplight because it is the real hero of the story.

As the stoplight saw my approach did it see my need to get through the light as urgent or important? Of course not. It's a stoplight. Its job is to allow the safe flow of traffic. When the electronics tell it to switch from green to yellow to red it has no personal drive for my sense of urgency.

We can take a lesson from a stoplight.

Not every task is urgent. Not every task is important.

So we need to focus on the things in life we do find important. Sometimes this may be subjective to our own view of importance, but we need to make sure the task is actually important to us and our goals.

The stoplight ceases to see the urgent as overriding the important. That which is important always comes before or happens alongside that which is urgent, not the other way around.

We spend too much of our life chasing after the next most urgent activity on our plate and then rarely end up doing anything of any importance.

Do you need to reply to every email coming into your inbox? Probably not. Do they all need an in-depth reply or will something much shorter suffice? Probably the latter.

Is it dreadfully important to check the notification on our phone popping up? Again, probably not.

Is the task we are currently working on more or less important than the next one coming up, or does it feel more urgent because it is for a bigger or better client/more important person at work?

We need to be more like the stoplight. Performing our important tasks with such diligence that the urgent tasks become easier to assess and deal with (or delegate to someone for whom the task would be important).

The next time you get stopped by a stoplight think about it. You'll never see stoplights the same way again.

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I am a freelance writer with a background in Ministry and experience everywhere from technical document writing to copy writing to creative writing. I have interests and knowledge in Ministry, Marketing, Parenting, Leadership, and Technology. If you are looking for someone to work with and like what you see, then email me at [email protected] or check out my portfolio at dylmill.contently.com.