How to Separate the Urgent from the Important?

When your business means everything to you, it might get difficult to distinguish between the tasks. Ideally, you may consider all your tasks important. We understand that it is your business, and you have duties to perform. However, you still need to understand and classify the tasks as urgent and essential. It is even likely that you may lose out on various opportunities because of poor time management skills and prioritizing the tasks.  

How To Separate the Urgent From the Important?

To get the desired professional and organizational results, you must prioritize your tasks. We typically choose first to complete tasks that have shorter deadlines. However, it is necessary to understand the task’s urgency and keep the related rewards and results associated with the functions in mind.  

Here are some practical strategies to help you differentiate between urgent and unimportant tasks. 

1. Categorize the tasks 

Here are four essential categories to help you set the priority of each task:  

• Urgent and important
• Urgent but not important 
• Not urgent and not important 
• Not urgent but important tasks  

Every time you have been allotted one task, you should aim at categorizing it in the correct category. 

For instance, deadline-driven and last-minute preparation tasks often fall under urgent and essential tasks. On the other hand, emails and discussions might not be critical. But they are crucial and should be on an individual’s to-do list. Therefore, every time you receive information on a task, you should first do the prioritization. Categorizing the task by priority will also help you in effective time management.  

2. Schedule important tasks 

After setting the priority, you should aim at scheduling the time and duration for each task. Think about how long it would take to finish one task. The time and duration required for each task may vary depending on the task. Moreover, you should consider giving yourself more time to complete the tasks to not affect the output. It is because you should also include time for unpredictable things and situations. You never know when you will get an emergency call or may have to deal with a power cut. Therefore, you should ensure that the deadline and schedule include time for such situations.  

3. Tackle the time-sensitive stuff  

There are often time-sensitive things that should be done as a priority. For instance, filling up the forms and submitting reports are some of the tasks that come with time sensitivity. Therefore, you must focus on completing the time-sensitive stuff before concentrating on other tasks. If you miss the deadline for submitting a report, it may become a problem. Ideally, you should consider completing the time-sensitive tasks first. Therefore, the prioritization should be done in alignment with the deadline of each task.  

Eliminate the unimportant tasks from the to-do list  

Every business owner and entrepreneur should consider making a to-do list in the morning. Preparing a list will help you determine the more critical tasks. To ensure proper time management, you should even consider eliminating the unimportant tasks from the list. If there is anything that can be done by someone else, consider assigning the task to them.  

4. Get all the relevant information 

Before starting any task, you should ensure a complete list of inputs from the client or the team. Even if an assignment is urgent but unimportant, you will need the correct information to complete it. Unless you have the relevant information, you won’t be able to begin the task. Therefore, you must focus on collecting the data or getting the complete handover before starting the task.  

5. Last-minute distraction should not always be treated as a priority  

You may have received the information at the last minute. However, it doesn’t mean you should always consider it a priority. If it is not needed at the moment, you can put it at the bottom of the list.  

6. Set constant reminders  

Setting constant reminders is essential when it comes to completing tasks. It often happens with all of us when we are meeting one task and then realize we have another pending task. We usually start multi-tasking, which creates problems and may impact the total output. Therefore, it is necessary to set constant reminders for each task. You should avoid getting involved in other things and use your time judiciously. Learning and practicing time management will help you stay organized.  

7. Set rewards and punishments for yourself  

Wondering how to separate the urgent from the important? Then, start creating a list of the tasks. If the tasks are essential, then you should start setting the deadlines. After selecting the deadlines, you should even set your rewards and punishments. If you complete the deadline on time, you should consider rewarding yourself.  

8. Be proactive  

A task may be urgent but not important, and a task may be essential but not urgent. However, it is necessary to understand that all the tasks have to be done. You should be proactive and use your time wisely. Stop procrastinating and learn time management effectively. Avoid wasting your time doing unnecessary things and focus on completing your tasks.  

We hope these tips will help you understand how to separate the urgent from the important. Use the table to categorize your tasks and follow the above information to distinguish the tasks.