<ul><li>Important tasks are things that contribute to your long-term mission, values, and goals. </li><li>Urgent tasks are tasks that have to be dealt with immediately: phone calls, urgent deadlines, and situations where you have to respond quickly.</li></ul>Sometimes important tasks stare you right in the face, but you neglect them and respond to urgent but unimportant things.

Important vs. urgent tasks

"The secret to mastering your time is to systematically focus on importance and suppress urgency."

"You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage pleasantly, smilingly, and non-apologetically — to say 'no' to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger yes burning inside."

If you get excited and take on too much, you'll be spending your energy all over the place.Spend most of your time on the right things and the rest takes care of itself. It's not enough to just 'work hard'.

Don't take on too much

Time, not money, is your most valuable asset. Invest your asset:<ul><li>Allocate time to each task you need to get done every day. </li><li>Each task of the day should be attainable, realistic, and time-bound. And it should advance your goals for the day, week or month. </li><li>Don't get distracted by everything others expect you to do. </li></ul>

Don't be available all the time

Modern technology has evolved to exploit our urgency addiction. You can be distracted simply by hearing or feeling your phone vibrate, even if you don't pick it up.<ul><li>Try putting your phone out of sight (and touch) for uninterrupted productivity.</li><li>Turn off all your notifications. Choose to check these things when you take breaks.</li></ul>

Being super connected 

Oliver Emberton said that. It's profound and so true. Urgency wrecks productivity. Urgent but unimportant tasks are major distractions. Last-minute distractions are not necessarily priorities. Sometimes important tasks stare you right in the face, but you neglect them and respond to urgent but unimportant things. You need to reverse that.

STEPHEN COVEY

Similar ideas

Ways to Say No

Be willing to not have it all

The Not-to-do List