Oliver Emberton said that. It's profound and so true. Urgency wrecks productivity. Urgent but unimportant tasks are major distractions. In 1954, former U.S President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent." Separating important tasks from urgent ones is a problem for many people.

Urgent vs Important 

The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent. Urgent tasks put us into constant "reply mode." They are distractions. Important work are tasks we have planned that move goals. Our brains are so drawn to urgency that we choose "objectively worse options over objectively better (important) options. To maximise time and do more focused work, question your choices constantly, and develop the ability to watch your mind as it gets whipped up by sudden requests.

Urgent = distraction 

They're just enough to pull your focus away and make you have to start over. Anytime you are pulled away from your tasks, it takes time to readjust to them when you jump back in - up to 25 minutes in many cases. Your life keeps diminishing while you waste your time feeding your distractions. Successful people prioritise! They focus! They disconnect from everything else to get tasks done.

Focus takes constant monitoring 

There's no single hack for getting more work done in less time, but instead a host of habits, and work systems can produce the best return on your time. Getting more work done is about knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to get it done in the shortest possible time to maximise the little time you have everyday.

How to Get More Work Done in a Week Than Most People Do in a Month

Gareth Haddon