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The Urgency Index
Many people find that despite their best efforts, even in work they love and feel good about, they have trouble feeling grounded and on top of things at work. Work is often filled with a sense of urgency—and this, as we all know, can lead to stress, fatigue, and eventually, burn-out. Despite endless good intentions, you frequently feel like a hamster spinning its little wheel.
Here is a piece about the Urgency/Importance Matrix. It comes from Stephen
Covey's book First Things First, and is used by Hollyhock trainer
Robert Gass in his leadership training programs. It offers a cogent look at
the way we spend our time, and how we can move away from the feeling of
"ungroundedness."
First, take the following quiz to see where you fit on the Urgency Index. Then, read the article that follows – you might find it has some valuable things to offer you!
Choose the number that best represents your normal behaviour or attitude, choosing zero for never, 2 for sometimes, and 4 for always. Keep a running total as you go.
1) I seem to do my best work when I'm under pressure.
0 1 2 3 4
2) I often blame the rush and push of external things for my failure to spend deep, introspective time with myself.
0 1 2 3 4
3) I'm often frustrated by the slowness of people and things around me. I hate to wait or stand in line. 0 1 2 3 4
4) I feel guilty when I take time off from work.
0 1 2 3 4
5) I always seem to be rushing between places and events. 0 1 2 3 4
6) I frequently find myself pushing people away so I can finish what I'm doing. 0 1 2 3 4
7) I feel anxious when I'm out of touch with the office.
0 1 2 3 4
8) I'm often preoccupied with one thing when I'm doing something else. 0 1 2 3 4
9) I'm at my best when I'm handling a crisis situation.
0 1 2 3 4
10) I often eat lunch or other meals while I work. 0 1 2 3 4
11) I keep thinking that someday I'll be able to do what I really want. 0 1 2 3 4
12) It's difficult for me to really complete things without the pressure of a deadline. 0 1 2 3 4
13) I often give up quality time with important people in my life to handle situations at work.
0 1 2 3 4
14) I feel like I've really been productive if I've checked off a lot of items on my "to do" list.
0 1 2 3 4
15) I get irritated when I or others make mistakes, or when things don't go right or get delayed. 0 1 2 3 4
16) I start thinking about what I have to do at work within a few minutes of waking up. 0 1 2 3 4
17) I have a hard time slowing down and relaxing when I reach the end of the work day. 0 1 2 3 4
18) When something cancels or I get unexpected free time, my first thought is what work I can do to fill the empty space. 0 1 2 3 4
19) I have a hard time creating sacrosanct space in my life into which work doesn't intrude.
0 1 2 3 4
20) While I'm working, I feel the pressure of all the other things I have to do that are hanging over me. 0 1 2 3 4
Add together all your scores and place the total here:
0-30 low urgency mind-set
30-50 high urgency mind-set
51+ urgency addiction
INTERPRETING YOUR RESULTS
So, you scored high on the Urgency Index. What now?
Well, first it's important to realize that urgency itself is not the problem. The problem is that when urgency is the dominant factor in our lives, importance isn't. What we regard as "first things" are urgent things. We're so caught up in doing, we don't even stop to ask if what we're doing really needs to be done.
Many of the traditional time management tools actually feed the addiction. Daily planning and "to do" lists essentially keep us focused on prioritizing and doing the urgent. And the more urgency we have in our lives, the less importance we have.
In order to focus on the issues of urgency and importance more effectively, let's look at the Time Management Matrix below. As you can see it categorizes our activities into four quadrants. We spend time in one of these four ways:
I – urgent, important
-crises-pressing problems-deadline-driven projects, meetings, preparations
II – not urgent, important
-preparation-prevention-values clarification-planning-relationship building-true re-creation-empowerment
III – urgent, not important
-interruptions, some phone calls-some e-mail, some reports-some meetings-many proximate, pressing matters-many popular activities
IV – not urgent, not important
-trivia, busywork-some phone calls-time wasters-"escape" activities-irrelevant mail and e-mail-excessive TV
Quadrant I represents things that are both "urgent" and "important." Here's where we handle an irate client, meet a deadline, repair a broken computer, undergo heart surgery, or help a crying child. We need to spend time in Quadrant I. This is where we manage, where we produce, where we bring our experience and judgment to bear in responding to many needs and challenges. If we ignore it, we get buried alive. But we also need to realize that many important activities become urgent through procrastination, or because we don't do enough prevention and planning.
Quadrant II is the Quadrant of Quality. Here's where we do our long-range planning, anticipate and prevent problems, empower others, broaden our minds and increase our skills through reading and continuous professional development, envision how we're going to help a struggling son or daughter, prepare for important meetings and presentations, or invest in relationships through deep, honest listening. Increasing time spent in this quadrant increases our ability to do. Ignoring this quadrant feeds and enlarges Quadrant I, creating stress, burnout, and deeper crises for the person consumed by it. On the other hand, investing in this quadrant shrinks Quadrant I. Planning, preparation and prevention keep many things from becoming urgent. Quadrant II does not act on us; we must act on it. This is the quadrant of personal leadership.
Quadrant III is almost the phantom of Quadrant I. It is the Quadrant of Deception. The noise of urgency creates the illusion of importance. But the actual activities, if they're important at all, are only important to someone else. Many phone calls, meetings and drop-in visitors fall into this category. We spend a lot of time in Quadrant III meeting other people's priorities and expectations, thinking we're really in Quadrant I.
Quadrant IV is the Quadrant of Waste. Of course, we really shouldn't be there at all. But we get so battle-scarred from being tossed around in Quadrants I and III that we often "escape" to Quadrant IV for survival. But Quadrant IV is not survival; it's deterioration. It many have an initial cotton candy feel, but we quickly find there's nothing there.
The value of the matrix is that it helps us to see how importance and urgency affect the choices we make about how to spend our time. It allows us to see where we spend most of our time and why we spend it there. We can also see that the degree to which urgency is dominant is the degree to which importance is not.
So, are you addicted to urgency?
If you're like most people, there's a good chance you spend the majority of your time in Quadrants I and III, driven by an attachment to urgency. But to do so carries a cost. If urgency is driving you, other important things are probably not receiving your time and attention.
It is important to recognize that it isn't bad to be in Quadrant I—but you need to recognize why you're there. Are you there because of importance, or urgency? If urgency dominates, then when importance fades, you'll slide into Quadrant III. But if you're in Quadrant I because of importance, then when urgency fades you'll move to Quadrant II.
The following seven activities all fall into Quadrant II.
1) Improving communication with people
2) Better preparation
3) Better planning and organizing
4) Taking better care of self
5) Seizing new opportunities
6) Personal development
7) Empowerment
They're all important, but not urgent. Are you doing enough of them? If the answer is no, but you feel it should be otherwise, then take a minute right now to set an intention for yourself, to make a commitment, to slowly start to shift the way you manage your time.
First, take the following quiz to see where you fit on the Urgency Index. Then, read the article that follows – you might find it has some valuable things to offer you!
Choose the number that best represents your normal behaviour or attitude, choosing zero for never, 2 for sometimes, and 4 for always. Keep a running total as you go.
1) I seem to do my best work when I'm under pressure.
0 1 2 3 4
2) I often blame the rush and push of external things for my failure to spend deep, introspective time with myself.
0 1 2 3 4
3) I'm often frustrated by the slowness of people and things around me. I hate to wait or stand in line. 0 1 2 3 4
4) I feel guilty when I take time off from work.
0 1 2 3 4
5) I always seem to be rushing between places and events. 0 1 2 3 4
6) I frequently find myself pushing people away so I can finish what I'm doing. 0 1 2 3 4
7) I feel anxious when I'm out of touch with the office.
0 1 2 3 4
8) I'm often preoccupied with one thing when I'm doing something else. 0 1 2 3 4
9) I'm at my best when I'm handling a crisis situation.
0 1 2 3 4
10) I often eat lunch or other meals while I work. 0 1 2 3 4
11) I keep thinking that someday I'll be able to do what I really want. 0 1 2 3 4
12) It's difficult for me to really complete things without the pressure of a deadline. 0 1 2 3 4
13) I often give up quality time with important people in my life to handle situations at work.
0 1 2 3 4
14) I feel like I've really been productive if I've checked off a lot of items on my "to do" list.
0 1 2 3 4
15) I get irritated when I or others make mistakes, or when things don't go right or get delayed. 0 1 2 3 4
16) I start thinking about what I have to do at work within a few minutes of waking up. 0 1 2 3 4
17) I have a hard time slowing down and relaxing when I reach the end of the work day. 0 1 2 3 4
18) When something cancels or I get unexpected free time, my first thought is what work I can do to fill the empty space. 0 1 2 3 4
19) I have a hard time creating sacrosanct space in my life into which work doesn't intrude.
0 1 2 3 4
20) While I'm working, I feel the pressure of all the other things I have to do that are hanging over me. 0 1 2 3 4
Add together all your scores and place the total here:
0-30 low urgency mind-set
30-50 high urgency mind-set
51+ urgency addiction
INTERPRETING YOUR RESULTS
So, you scored high on the Urgency Index. What now?
Well, first it's important to realize that urgency itself is not the problem. The problem is that when urgency is the dominant factor in our lives, importance isn't. What we regard as "first things" are urgent things. We're so caught up in doing, we don't even stop to ask if what we're doing really needs to be done.
Many of the traditional time management tools actually feed the addiction. Daily planning and "to do" lists essentially keep us focused on prioritizing and doing the urgent. And the more urgency we have in our lives, the less importance we have.
In order to focus on the issues of urgency and importance more effectively, let's look at the Time Management Matrix below. As you can see it categorizes our activities into four quadrants. We spend time in one of these four ways:
I – urgent, important
-crises-pressing problems-deadline-driven projects, meetings, preparations
II – not urgent, important
-preparation-prevention-values clarification-planning-relationship building-true re-creation-empowerment
III – urgent, not important
-interruptions, some phone calls-some e-mail, some reports-some meetings-many proximate, pressing matters-many popular activities
IV – not urgent, not important
-trivia, busywork-some phone calls-time wasters-"escape" activities-irrelevant mail and e-mail-excessive TV
Quadrant I represents things that are both "urgent" and "important." Here's where we handle an irate client, meet a deadline, repair a broken computer, undergo heart surgery, or help a crying child. We need to spend time in Quadrant I. This is where we manage, where we produce, where we bring our experience and judgment to bear in responding to many needs and challenges. If we ignore it, we get buried alive. But we also need to realize that many important activities become urgent through procrastination, or because we don't do enough prevention and planning.
Quadrant II is the Quadrant of Quality. Here's where we do our long-range planning, anticipate and prevent problems, empower others, broaden our minds and increase our skills through reading and continuous professional development, envision how we're going to help a struggling son or daughter, prepare for important meetings and presentations, or invest in relationships through deep, honest listening. Increasing time spent in this quadrant increases our ability to do. Ignoring this quadrant feeds and enlarges Quadrant I, creating stress, burnout, and deeper crises for the person consumed by it. On the other hand, investing in this quadrant shrinks Quadrant I. Planning, preparation and prevention keep many things from becoming urgent. Quadrant II does not act on us; we must act on it. This is the quadrant of personal leadership.
Quadrant III is almost the phantom of Quadrant I. It is the Quadrant of Deception. The noise of urgency creates the illusion of importance. But the actual activities, if they're important at all, are only important to someone else. Many phone calls, meetings and drop-in visitors fall into this category. We spend a lot of time in Quadrant III meeting other people's priorities and expectations, thinking we're really in Quadrant I.
Quadrant IV is the Quadrant of Waste. Of course, we really shouldn't be there at all. But we get so battle-scarred from being tossed around in Quadrants I and III that we often "escape" to Quadrant IV for survival. But Quadrant IV is not survival; it's deterioration. It many have an initial cotton candy feel, but we quickly find there's nothing there.
The value of the matrix is that it helps us to see how importance and urgency affect the choices we make about how to spend our time. It allows us to see where we spend most of our time and why we spend it there. We can also see that the degree to which urgency is dominant is the degree to which importance is not.
So, are you addicted to urgency?
If you're like most people, there's a good chance you spend the majority of your time in Quadrants I and III, driven by an attachment to urgency. But to do so carries a cost. If urgency is driving you, other important things are probably not receiving your time and attention.
It is important to recognize that it isn't bad to be in Quadrant I—but you need to recognize why you're there. Are you there because of importance, or urgency? If urgency dominates, then when importance fades, you'll slide into Quadrant III. But if you're in Quadrant I because of importance, then when urgency fades you'll move to Quadrant II.
The following seven activities all fall into Quadrant II.
1) Improving communication with people
2) Better preparation
3) Better planning and organizing
4) Taking better care of self
5) Seizing new opportunities
6) Personal development
7) Empowerment
They're all important, but not urgent. Are you doing enough of them? If the answer is no, but you feel it should be otherwise, then take a minute right now to set an intention for yourself, to make a commitment, to slowly start to shift the way you manage your time.
