Chris Gratigny's Blog

Without fail, someone on my team will receive some kind of urgent email every day. I should know better, but I’m often surprised at the things that people report as urgent. In my opinion, something that is urgent would jump in front of other things that I’m doing. By being urgent, if action isn’t taken, the problem will only get worse. Things that are urgent are time sensitive. At least that’s what I think.

Here’s a list of 10 things that I’d deem to be urgent. I’d stop to help you if you were:

1. sitting on the toilet with no toilet paper.
2. about to drop a glass on the floor.
3. sending 1000 emails to people on your computer and couldn’t stop it.
4. falling.
5. being robbed.
6. being chased by Koda.
7. in a wheelchair rolling down a hill, out of control.
8. lifting something too heavy.
9. buying a mac so you didn’t have to ever use a pc again.
10. carrying things in both hands and approaching a door.

Here’s a list of 10 things that I’d deem to NOT be urgent. I wouldn’t stop what I’m doing if you were:

1. trying to finish a task that you procrastinated starting.
2. about to drop a water bottle.
3. trying to send an email and it wasn’t working.
4. talking about being dizzy.
5. spending money foolishly.
6. being chased by a 3 year old.
7. rolling across the floor in and office chair.
8. talking about carrying heavy items.
9. trying to fix your pc.
10. walking briskly with items in one hand.

To me, things are urgent if they will get worse if no one helps in a very short period of time.  They aren’t urgent when a few more minutes won’t make a difference, or it is completely self inflicted.  Take #2 for instance.  A falling water bottle won’t hurt anyone, but a glass that is falling? Now that’s something that’s worth helping with in the moment.

When you find something to be urgent, I’d challenge you to ask yourself, do I really need to look at it NOW, or can I finish my thought before moving on.

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