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Deconstructing urgent vs. important

A six-year-old who throws a tantrum and refuses to go to school is escalating into the urgent.

Going to school every day is important.

Mollifying an angry customer is urgent, building systems and promises that keep customers from getting angry is important.

Killing the bugs in the kitchen is urgent, putting in weatherstripping to keep them out for the long haul is important (as is avoiding carcinogens).

Fifteen years ago, Elian Gonzales was at the center of a perfect media storm. It was an urgent issue, one that involved heads of state. But it wasn't nearly as important as eventually normalizing relations and the well-being of millions of people.

In fact, breaking news of any kind is rarely important.

Important means: long-term, foundational, coherent, in the interest of many, strategic, efficient, positive...

If you take care of important things, the urgent things don't show up as often. The opposite is never true.

Excerpt from http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/01/deconstructing-urgent-vs-important.html

Seth's Blog: Deconstructing urgent vs. important

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