“Don’t confuse the urgent with what is important.” I have to constantly remind myself of this principle. More often than I’d like to admit, I find myself wasting time on things that not only steal my time but also steal my joy.
I don’t like getting to the end of my day only to realize I’ve allowed myself to get hijacked once again by what seemed important at the time but, upon further reflection, wasn’t really important at all. It felt urgent, but it ended up being like cotton candy—it appeared much bigger than it actually was. It was sweet at the time but didn’t satisfy, providing only empty calories.
I’m the type of person who enjoys the satisfaction of checking things off my checklist. But not all checked boxes are worth their weight in gold. It takes discipline to wrestle my squirrel-like brain into submission and focus on what’s important, not just what’s urgent.
I’m working on it. Thankfully, I have a good example to look to for guidance on how to break the power of the urgent. Jesus models this for us in the Gospels: Mark 1:35-37 reads: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: 'Everyone is looking for you!'" Now, if anyone had a reason to get caught up in the urgent, it was Jesus! Here we see that He went to be alone, and it wasn’t long before His friends found Him.