LIFE’S PRIORITIES: IMPORTANT VS. URGENT

By Danny S. Villanueva
(Teaching given by the author to PTG Community in July 2010; also a copy of Ihip Newsletter article.)

Many disorder and confusion in life are caused by choosing the wrong priorities in life. Pains, sickness and troubles are normal offshoots of mismanaged priorities. And such consequences ruin the handling of our time and resources on a daily basis. The problem boils down to our understanding and perception of what is “important” and what is “urgent.” Many of us find difficulty to tell the difference between the two. Understanding what is important but not urgent, and what is urgent but not important display how our mind works. Tackling what is urgent is commonly our weakness.

Important items are those essential (critical, crucial, vital) or “need” things we must have or must do. Not important items are the “wants” (would/feel like to do/have, nice to do/have). Our thought of “when” to have or do ascertains the urgency of the situation. Take for instance: Money is important to have, but not urgent when you have everything at the moment. Having money is urgent when we need to pay bills due by month end and we are running short of income.

We have here below a diagram that can help us understand and work out our priorities properly. In the first quadrant (urgent and important) shows an emergency or crisis situation that must have immediate corrective reactions (like fighting a fire, getting immediate medical attention, solving a car breakdown in the expressway, etc.). Failure to have foresight, plans and preparations leads to such crisis situations and wipes out completely our time management. Except for force majeure (act of God) cases, we must prevent this crisis situation by following the quadrant 2 situation.



The second quadrant (important but not urgent) shows the effectiveness of foresight and planning ahead to avoid/prevent problems/critical situations. Here, the pro-active person anticipates possible problems by being sensitive to their tell-tale signs and symptoms, investigates, verifies and prepares for the worst. For example: going through annual medical check ups, periodic car preventive maintenance, implementing safety practices at home/work, with limited resources- spending money on important/essential needs only, etc. This is the situation where we like to be at anytime in our life where there is ease, breathing space, time to evaluate/analyze and organized plan of action. The key here is to follow the designed plan and schedules without unnecessary delays.

The third quadrant (not important but urgent) is where our attachments and addictions fall within. For there is deception, a lie giving urgency to non-important things (vices, prohibitive drugs, alcohol, gambling, rumour mongering/idle talks, greed, amassing wealth, overeating, overspending, lust, etc. Take for instance the sales events of many shopping malls: they are urgent for those selling the wares or services; but not urgent for us consumers, for there will be other sales in the future. If we do not need the items being sold, then the sales offer is not important as well. Just like the first quadrant, this situation also ruins completely our ability to manage our time effectively. We must avoid falling into this very bad situation by being truly honest to ourselves and others.

The fourth quadrant (not important and not urgent) shows a situation of wasting our time of having and doing things which are not urgent and important all. For example: with limited resources-planning to gallivant (paint the town red) with the “barkadas”, saving and spending hard earned money to keep up with the Joneses, etc. To keep away from this terrible trap, do not be idle or tend to over sleep. Keep busy. Acquire healthy habits, past time and recreational activities.

In the realm of our Christian faith, what is priority is how we live the Word of God. The most important is how we love with charity and service: “God first, others second, and me third.” God’s call for sacrificial love is foremost to all of us, and there is urgency to sustain and uphold it in our everyday life. We must have clear ideas and vision of the good and holy things we need to aspire for. For effectiveness, we must plan/prepare on how to achieve and live them through regular habits of study, prayer, service and effective handling of our time and resources.

As to our daily time management, there are 4 recommended practical techniques:
1. Identify 3 to 5 most important for the day.
2. Look into tasks that provide highest value to others and myself. Give priority to long-term benefit impact it will have to others’ and my life.
3. As much as possible, plan and do important tasks in the morning. Afternoon can be filled with distractions/busy work.
4. Have a clear vision (short term: 1-3 years and long term: 5-10 years) on how your future would look like.

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