Urgent versus Important tasks

Do you want to maximize the use of your time and achieve extraordinary things?

Then you must understand the crucial difference between what’s urgent and what’s important.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower is known for having first emphasized this difference:

I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.

The “Eisenhower matrix” is a powerful decision-making tool that helps you prioritize your precious time.

The trick to using the Eisenhower matrix is to realize that most things that masquerade as “urgent” aren’t actually urgent.

And, according to Eisenhower urgent things are never important.

What he meant was: important long-range strategic goals are never urgent.

But they’re important so they need to be prioritized above all else—even matters that are (or seem) urgent.

The best way to achieve your important goals is to create habits of thinking, deciding and acting that suppress the strong tendency to reflexively prioritize urgent things over important ones.

(Also, make sure you understand the difference between efficiency and effectiveness).

General Resources

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