Glimpse 8 - Most Important vs Most Urgent

sigh... a beautiful winter's day outside and I'm looking out on it wondering any number of things as the day begins. I'm especially wrestling with what's most important versus what's most urgent today. There are so many hob goblins running around in my life and work; it's just very important I sit with my coffee and make best choices based on the real truth of what I know.

Everyday I have several enjoyable habits or routines which seem to serve me well. I make it a practice of reading something, old or new, not on line but in printed form, for fifteen to twenty minutes each morning. I especially like to read things from my fields of expertise, health or nutrition related, biking or fly fishing - generaly non fiction... That's important. A high fiber breakfast, my vitamins, related stretching - important. Every day I have a choice of keeping up those practices or changing them based on what's most important or most urgent in my life. Letting the dog out...urgently important most mornings.

Living my life with an intention of what I desire to bring to others and life in general, as well as what I require from being and doing those actions, has a lot to do with how I arrive and in my definition of success. Running around like a chicken with my head cut off is one way of insuring myself a delayed arrival.

I've also found there is a false sense of urgency in my life that causes me to get distracted from what's most important to me. This false sense of urgency is generally me lying to myself about something or someone's "expectation" or my own abundant ability to over commit myself. In order to "know" the difference of I vs. U, initially I asked myself two questions to sort it out. "Who says it's urgent?" "Is that the truth?".

In coaching others I've learned that the term "time management" is a bit of joke to me. I don't manage time, it's gonna tick away like the metronome of life it's supposed to be, with or without me. I manage me, my actions and I do it more often than not based on what seems most urgent. To make matters more interesting, I believed and had convinced myself..somehow..that it is all urgently important to be all things, to all people, all the time.

There is a remarkable difference in my days since learning this piece. More often than not, I attempt and even succeed at setting my actions and days around what's most important; (of much or great significance or consequence) and I keep my focus on knowing what that is to me each day, sometimes in each minute. Family, friends, being of service, loving whatever I'm doing for whatever reason I'm doing it.... because I said so.....and....yes, it's the truth. I've saved most urgent for what it truly is; compelling or requiring immediate action or attention; imperative; pressing. Thankfully my urgent life has started the shift to being an important one. Most people around me seem to have noticed and supported my new awareness and choices.

The request I make of you today is quite simple... make a mental or written list of what is most important and examples of what is most urgent. Learn them, know the difference and apply to your own life at will.

For me, the dog has to go out again... it appears to be urgent. Who says it is? She does. Is it the truth? Yep. And so it goes.