It’s 2 p.m. on a Tuesday and you’re met with a tough decision. As you sit in front of your computer screen, you find yourself wondering “Do I finish my paper? Should I respond to this email from a friend, coworker, professor?” or “Do I start a deep conditioning treatment on my hair?” No judgment, we’ve all been there (if this example were about me it would probably involve a buzzfeed quiz). But the true champs of effective time management are able to avoid defeat by asking themselves one thing – Is this matter urgent or is it important? When you are able to easily answer this question you’re one step closer to more effective time management.
Urgent vs. Important – How to Know the Difference
Urgent matters tend to be ones that are vying for our immediate attention – I’m looking at you email/text notifications. The problem and trick of urgent matters is that they are not always important. What’s more, getting them off our list can make us feel like we’ve accomplished something when in reality we haven’t. Ultimately, these time ticks can potentially tank any effective time management practices we’ve implemented.
For example – If I spend my morning knocking out major items on my to do list such as launching a product beta test and booking speaking gigs but then waste 4 hours scrolling through Instagram, I may as well be back where I started.
On the contrary, important matters are ones that can change our trajectory and bring us closer to the things we’re trying to accomplish. They’re typically the more rewarding items on our to-do lists and while they may take up more time in the beginning, we often get the time spent back in the end.
For example – setting up my editorial calendar for Black Girls with Purpose can take anywhere from 1 to 5 hours depending on how far in advance I’m scheduling content. But, if I stick to it and put the time in, I save myself several mornings of asking “What should I write about today?” That would be poor time management. Disclaimer: Deep conditioning your hair can actually be considered very important if you’re trying to avoid split ends. It just may not be urgent.
A Quick Test
How can you tell if a matter is urgent vs. important? Run it through the following questions. Ask yourself:
- Is this task helping me achieve my overall goals? (IMPORTANT)
- Will something bad happen if I don’t complete this task? (URGENT)
- Am I doing this in response to something someone said or did? (URGENT)
- Can this item be rescheduled or delegated? – (URGENT)
- Can I ignore this? – If your answer is yes, (URGENT, NOT IMPORTANT). If your answer is no – (URGENT AND IMPORTANT)
When you make the distinction between urgent and important, you’re on the path to effective time management and that my dear, makes you a black girl with purpose.
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P.S. If you could not answer the first question in the important vs. urgent test – check out free guide to killer goal setting.. If you don’t know the map to where you’re going it’s a lot harder to know whether or not you’ve gotten off track.