Smart, not reactive

Important and urgent don’t always overlap. Your important may not be my important and so you push me to make it urgent, to make it more important to me. Or perhaps I do it to you. 

I hadn’t much considered the idea of importance vs. urgency before Seth Godin introduced it to me. Now I am regularly in its crosshairs. 

In an organization or a team, it becomes cultural. When John asks for something, drop everything else. When execs have a request, strategic planning goes out the window. 

Can you push back? Be smart, not reactive. Support the strategy, not the fire drill. And ask the right questions to determine if there’s really a fire.