Are You Living an Urgent Life or an Important Life?

It’s easy to tell whether someone has an urgent life or an important life just by listening to the way they talk about what they’re doing with their time. When someone says I’m so busy, or I don’t have enough time to get everything done, we can be pretty sure that they are living an urgent life. They feel like they have so much to do that they don’t know where to start and that everything must be done yesterday if it’s going to get done at all!

What is an urgent life?

The urgent life is one that’s characterized by stress, fatigue, and busyness. We feel overwhelmed and stressed with many demands on our time. To simplify our lives, we begin to categorize tasks as urgent (or immediate) and non-urgent (or non-immediate). In reality, most tasks are actually not urgent. Our desire to attend to them right away may come from a distorted view of time, which can create unnecessary stress. Think about all of your past deadlines; how many did you actually miss? Were they really that urgent? Probably not! Yet you still felt anxious when approaching them; urgency comes from within rather than from external forces.

What is an important life?

If you were to tell me that you're a very busy person, I'd probably have a few ideas of what that means: Your schedule is jam-packed with work, family time, and social obligations. What I wouldn't guess is that your schedule was full of unimportant things. After all, if they didn't matter, why would you prioritize them so highly? It's easy to fall into a trap of thinking that every item on our to-do list matters. But sometimes we need to shift away from urgent matters and instead focus on truly important goals—the kind that will bring fulfillment and even happiness over time. The first step in making that shift is knowing when we're being pulled in too many directions; it's recognizing what's urgent versus what's truly important.

Why do we chase urgency instead of importance?

The reason we live such urgent lives is because it's easier to deal with and distract ourselves from problems when they're looming than when they've passed. The end of an urgent life is so close that we can always shift our focus to something else, rather than facing it head on. But in doing so, we often miss out on important things in life.

How to have both in your life

Yes, it’s possible to have it all in your career. It’s also possible to have time for friends and family, to find peace in your professional life, and to understand that some things simply aren’t urgent but are important. Here are five tips you can put into practice immediately

What does it look like to live a more fulfilling and meaningful life?

Have you ever felt like you were living on autopilot: going through your days, weeks, and months without purpose? I think we've all experienced moments when we’ve become frustrated with ourselves for not feeling happier. We want to wake up every day excited about our lives. We want to be able to step back and appreciate what's good in our lives rather than just focusing on what’s wrong. If you feel stuck and don't know how to move forward in your life, here are a few steps that will help you create more meaningful experiences. But first...here's why it matters.

Make a decision to commit to change: Rather than wanting your life to change, make a conscious decision as if you are now committed to making positive changes in your life each day for a period of time. This is important because it gives us some time, distance and perspective so we can stop being surprised at where our current behavior takes us daily. Being committed means that although there may be rough times ahead (which there always will), you have decided anyway–all things considered–to take action towards positive change despite those challenges. A commitment is just knowing where you're headed; it helps direct traffic even if it doesn't get rid of speed bumps along the way!