Roar Ambition Discuss the Difference between Urgent and Important

Direct sales and marketing firm Roar Ambition have recently held a workshop to discuss the differences between what's urgent and what’s important. The Liverpool based firm believe that many entrepreneurs will burn out due to feeling a constant need to be on the go.

Roar Ambition: About the firm. 

Many entrepreneurs can't distinguish the difference between what is urgent and what’s important. Many of which are in management roles and have been for a prolonged period. Roar Ambition cannot stress enough the importance of understanding the difference in the two, in doing so it can make an unimaginable impact on the ability to manage stress and improve the quality and productivity in both personal and professional environments.

Urgent is described as: “A situation requiring immediate action or attention”. An urgent task Is often one where a there's an immediate deadline or a deadline that has already passed. However, many forget that while the task is critical, it's not necessarily going to be time-consuming or heavily effort intensive.

Often an urgent task just requires a signature. It's also worth understanding that the results of the task will have no significant impact on an individual’s life. Tasks become urgent as a result of deferring the time in which it should have been completed, for example, it can be as simple as responding to an email, if the task is left long enough it will become “urgent” if its left long enough despite how trivial it may have been.

Important tasks, however, might not have a specific timeframe for completion. They become important due to the impact they are going to have on a business or an individual life. Similarly to an urgent task they might not be time-consuming, effort-intensive or require immediate action. An important task might be planning ahead for the next few years, it does not need to be acted on immediately, but it will certainly help for the longevity of a business.

To summarise, the urgency of a task is subject to a deadline. However, deciding on which task is important is relative to an individual's thoughts or their circumstances at the time of making the decision. External factors and pressures more often than not drive urgency. Being able to decide the significance or importance of a task in an introspective exercise.

Roar Ambition believes all entrepreneurs and business owners need to understand the difference between the two if they are to be successful. These two different types of tasks can often cause significant stress to these individuals, and it's important to understand the impacts they will have, a failure to understand can usually be one of the most common cause for professional burnout.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/310151