Urgent or important?

In our lives, it can often feel like we're just "putting out fires" on all fronts. We urgently need to send that Christmas letter to our relatives, urgently need to go to the store for soil for our plants, urgently need to pay that bill, and so on. Every day something urgent comes up that takes our limited time on this planet. Time for things that are truly important is often neglected. Exercise, healthy eating, stress management, spending time with family, personal growth, and our interests that bring us joy. All of these things are put aside so that we can hurry to the store or run an errand to the post office.

Why? Because things that are important in life usually aren't urgent. The reverse is also true. Things that are urgent usually aren't important. Do we really need to send that greeting card today? Will our loved ones really be less happy if they receive it a few days later? Do we really need soil for our plants? Can it really not wait until our next trip to the store? Is it really that terrible if we miss paying the bill by one day? Why don't we create a system to pay it much earlier so that urgent situations don't arise?

All of this takes away our precious time from what we really want. Important things are often not urgent - if we don't exercise or eat that salad today, no one will notice. There won't be a huge difference the next day either. But time goes on and we're losing valuable months that could make a difference.

So let's ask ourselves: Is this urgent or important? If it's urgent, can we not do it? Is it also important? This can help us answer the question of whether we should give our precious time to this task.

Let's focus on the important things in life, not the urgent ones.