This is Urgent!

Unique Perspectives: This is Urgent!

By Kim Stevens

The Illusion of Urgency.

Last week we had Marty Wolff,  a highly regarded business consultant, come into our company to teach on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He’s one of the real-deal experts, so respected he’s endorsed by Stephen M. R. Covey, the son of Stephen Covey himself.

So no fluff. No Pinterest quotes. The real stuff.

And we spent a good amount of time on something that sounds simple… but is not.

Urgent vs. Important.

You know the chart. Four boxes.

Urgent & Important.

Important but Not Urgent.

Urgent but Not Important.

Neither.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most of us live in the Urgent boxes.

I used to think everything was an emergency. If someone texted, I had to respond immediately. If someone needed something, I had to do it right now. If there was a question, a glitch, a tiny spark of drama, I was on it like a firefighter.

Except nothing was actually on fire.

Urgency feels productive. It feels needed. It feels important. But it’s often just someone else’s agenda dressed up in flashing lights. When you live like that, your day gets decided by whoever pings you first. And here’s what that means… You never actually decide where you’re going.

Stephen Covey talks about Quadrant II being where vision lives. Planning. Thinking. Building relationships. Taking care of your health. Designing your future instead of reacting to your present.

The problem? Nothing in Quadrant II screams at you.

No one is blowing up your phone saying, “Have you asked your soul what it wants?”  No one is urgently texting, “Are you living on purpose today?”  There are no notifications for “Stop and think about the direction and values of your life.”  No alarm goes off that says, “Excuse me, your peace of mind would like a moment of your attention.”

So we default to urgency. It feels noble. It feels responsive. It feels like leadership. But if we’re honest? It’s often avoidance. Because sitting quietly and deciding what really matters to us takes courage.

Last week, working through that chart, I was reminded: there were seasons when I let everyone else’s “urgent” run my schedule. And then I wondered why I felt scattered. If you’ve ever ended the day exhausted but unsure what you actually moved forward… you get it.

Not everything that calls for my attention deserves my direction. I still handle real emergencies. Of course. But now I pause and ask: Is this urgent… or is it important? And even better: If I say yes to this, what am I saying no to?

The irony is that the more time I spend in the Important-but-Not-Urgent space, the fewer things become emergencies.

It’s not about becoming slow or unresponsive. It’s about becoming intentional. And if you know me at all, you know I love that word. Because living deliberately means I choose my direction instead of being dragged by it.

So here’s my gentle challenge: The next time your phone buzzes, pause for three seconds. Ask yourself: Is this truly urgent? Or is this just loud?

Your future probably isn’t texting you. But it is waiting for you to make time for it.