If you put your time into the things that are important, you will rarely find yourself having to deal with things that are urgent.
This blog was inspired by a brief discussion I had with Chris Hanschmidt a few days ago…thanks Chris. This is a simple time utilization principle that can make a major difference in the quality of your life. What does it mean when things are “urgent?” For me, and I think for most people, the word urgent mean crisis. It means that something HAS to be dealt with above anything else and it has to be dealt with immediately.
In my study, and mentoring, of people as well as my own self-assessment and experience it is quite clear that most all of the crisis that we deal with in our lives comes from things we have done to ourselves. And the majority of this self-inflicted crisis is entirely avoidable with a few little changes in our approach to life. When you think about it there are a few areas of your life that if you neglect to do the important things, they will eventually create crisis. These would be the areas of priority. You can’t really have crisis in an area that doesn’t matter to you…because it doesn’t matter!
So what you are doing is putting time into the important things within the important things.
These key areas of importance are personal health, relationships, and work, and finances. These are the areas where any neglect for a period of time will lead to a crisis. Put even more simply…if you pay attention to the important on a consistent basis…it doesn’t escalate to urgent. So each day, all you have to do is look at these areas as imperatives. Schedule some time and attention for each of these things and spend that time on the important things in that area.
So what you are doing is putting time into the important things within the important things. For example, personal health is important, and exercise is one of the important things. In work, there are important things that drive the success of what you do…work on those first. They are some good resources in the market place to help you with this if you find yourself challenged. You can pick up a copy of the classic book “The Seven Habits” by Dr. Stephen Covey or “Live Full, Live Well” written by yours truly.
