How to cut through what is urgent and very urgent
How to cut through what is urgent and very urgent 
At our work places we seem to only have urgent and very urgent matters anymore. How do we prioritize them? Without qualifying and quantifying how urgent something really is, you have to ponder what its impact on you is. Although some bosses may seem to actually believe that multiple tasks can all have priority 1, you know that this is impossible. Even if it were possible, it would still not be healthy to operate in this crisis mode for long.
Here are a few criteria by which you can decide what to work on next:
- Take your time evaluating any given task before you start doing anything.
- Map out these following different categories and where the task falls.
- How important is the client to me and others?
- How important is the product, service, etc to me and others?
- How much will it cost?
- How does this fit my core values and purpose? How does it fit the company’s vision and mission/ brand?
- How congruent is this with my core values?
- Do I have all the information I need?
- Did I include the main customer in the decision making process?
- Can I make a commitment?
- Do I have the consent of my customer to continue?
Nowadays we have got expedited shipping for 3 day, 2 day, and same day service. It would be awesome if we could ship something today and getting that delivered yesterday. While we may wish that one day we will be able to get parts shipped such that they get to where they need to go yesterday, it still will require that someone does the above mentioned homework. Just remember that someone else’s urgent is not automatically your urgent.
Ralf
