https://twitter.com/HenriNouwen/status/230384864438919168?s=20
This tweet by Henri Nouwen struck me the other day. The work environment can be dominated by the urgent. How many times have you heard, “This job is hot!” from multiple people in the same day? We are very good at putting a high urgency on jobs, but not very good at tackling the important tasks. We end up stuck in the tyranny of the urgent.
The other day, I had a job that was suddenly hot. I soon found out that there were details missing that were crucial to the success of the job. If I had sent it to the printer without questioning the details, the job would have been done wrong. A rushed job done wrong will be late and will have waste. Urgency can cost us wasted money and time.
The temptation is to jump at the urgent. Take a breath, slow down and ask if this hot job is really important. And if it is, are all the essential details are there to make it a successful job.
