TNF #042: How to get out of urgency mode?

Welcome Professionals…

…in last week’s blog post, I revisited a popular concept: The Eisenhower decision matrix. I made the point that we must dedicate time to our long-term oriented goals.

Urgency always finds a way to occupy our time. If we do not take deliberate action, we will miss out on what really matters and what creates future value.

Some readers have asked me how this can be done. There is actually only one way from my point of view. Scheduling time to these long-term goal activities (important not urgent) and sticking to it.

Urgent-vs-Important

There are two different categories of these activies. The ones that need to be followed regularly like physical exercise and nurturing of relationships are best to be built into your daily routines. It helps to build strong habits that will be followed at all times.

Project work falls into the other categorie. Activities like building intellectual property or acquiring a skill need deep work. Time blocks of a full day or half a day where you shut down all distractions and focus on your work. It is best to set up a project plan for these kind of activities like you would do for a consulting project. Book these activities to your calendar and stick to it.

Hope this works for you to get out of the urgency mode.

Malte

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