How often have you heard friends or coworkers talk about how busy they are with urgent tasks? Sometimes it seems to be used as a status symbol and fosters competition: If I’m busier than you, I must be achieving more and doing more important things. Making matters worse, our society tends to value busyness as an indicator of productivity. Traditional time management approaches, including to-do lists and daily planning, largely feed into this addiction by emphasizing efficiency and failing to allocate time for important tasks that aren’t urgent. Have you ever been faced with a crisis, come up with a solution, and felt that incredible sense of success and relief? Although urgent situations are stressful, resolving them creates a high that you can become addicted to however, this is a self-destructive habit that only temporarily fills a void, whether it be the lack of a larger purpose or a desire for a sense of achievement. They keep us focused on daily prioritization of the urgent.”įurther, he says that responding to urgency can become an addiction to some people because it brings a sense of immediate accomplishment and an adrenaline rush. And instead of meeting these needs, the tools and approaches of time management often feed the addiction.
“Urgency addiction is a self-destructive behavior that temporarily fills the void created by unmet needs. He believes that the main reason we don’t have time for things that are important and meaningful is because we are too distracted by urgent tasks - things as trivial as a ringing phone or as critical as a health emergency. The urgent vs important dichotomy is central to Stephen Covey’s approach to time management. Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important. First Things First Quotes by Stephen Covey Keep reading for three First Things First quotes about time management. They talk about how to manage your time not just efficiently, but also effectively and meaningfully. These First Things First quotes by Stephen Covey highlight his key ideas about time management. What are the best First Things First quotes by Stephen Covey? What can these quotes teach you about time management? Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here.
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This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "First Things First" by Stephen R.