World-renowned business scholar Dr. Stephen Covey categorized daily tasks into four types: ① Urgent and important tasks ② Not urgent but important tasks ③ Urgent but not important tasks ④ Neither urgent nor important tasks
So, in what order should we tackle these tasks? Most people agree that ① should be done first and ④ last. The real dilemma lies between ② and ③: should we prioritize what’s urgent or what’s important? Dr. Covey advises us to focus on important tasks rather than urgent ones.
Because time is limited, it’s easy to get caught up in urgent matters. But when we constantly prioritize urgent tasks, truly important ones get pushed aside. Eventually, we end up spending our lives dealing only with what’s urgent. Even when we do get to important things, we often rush through them with whatever time we have left. Important tasks often don’t show immediate results—they require steady investment over time. Urgent tasks simply maintain the status quo, while important ones are what move us forward toward our goals.
From time to time, we should pause and reflect: Are we giving priority to what truly matters? Or are we letting type ④ tasks sneak in and push aside types ①, ②, and ③?