Urgent or Important?

Have you done the most important thing today?

This daily focus defines the difference between rich and poor. Many people go through life thinking about all the important tasks they should have done. But because of lack of understanding most people end up doing what is urgent or what they feel like in the moment. When you´ve done what is urgent you might feel happy and think what you´ve been doing have been important. In many cases this is a lie. Why?

Because urgent and important is not the same.

Last Wednesday the 3rd of July Ørjan and I enjoyed a whole grilled Jon Dory fish at a beautiful Italian restaurant in Berlin together with our friend and mentor Orrin Woodward. The food tasted delicious and as always we had a thriving conversation. Then Mr. Woodward asked. What about Sturgeon´s Law? 90% of everything is simply crud (low of value).

So Orrin explained: Understanding Sturgeon´s Law helps you study the leadership teams honestly and not be fooled by the endless talk with no results. When all is said and done, much more is said than ever done. The 10 percent walk while the 90 percent talk. So Hilde and Ørjan, are you spending your time with the 10 percent?

It is always good to get a reminder. And this was again a big reminder for both of us. Are we spending our time with our leaders or are we using more time on responding to the urgent calls from the team?

What about you? How do you know who and what is important?

Similar to how you can follow the results on the scoreboard during a sports match, we also have a scoreboard in our business. What does your result show? Are you learning? Are you improving? How many leaders have you developed lately? How many leaders have your leaders developed?

Urgent and important is not the same. It is crucial to understand the difference to reach your goals. How do you spend your time? Are you a talker or a walker? Do you actually walk your talk, or do you just talk it?

So let me ask you again: Have you done the most important thing today?