How to Do Important Work (Even When You Have Urgent Work)

We all have urgent work. Things that our clients or bosses are asking for. Weekly meetings and deliverables. This is the stuff that needs to get done. The stuff on the contract. The stuff in the job description. 

We also all have important work. Goals we’ve set for ourselves. The above and beyond that no one is asking for. The hole in the system we know we can fill. The important work is rarely on the contract. It’s rarely in the job description. 

We do too much urgent work and not enough important work. I’m definitely not the first to say that. And I won’t be the last. It’s a constant battle to block out time and mental space to do the important work. 

One trap I fall into is convincing myself that I’ll do the important work when the urgent work slows down. This is a lie. Take a quick look at the past year. Has the urgent work ever gone away? It doesn’t. That’s the nature of work in the digital age. If there’s anything we learned from this quarantine era, it’s that more time doesn’t automatically motivate us to work on our goals. 

There will always be energy and motivation to do the urgent work. So do the important work when you have the most energy and motivation. 

Sometimes this just comes down to strategic scheduling. I used to try and get all of my urgent work done before I started on the important work. But I would usually finish up the urgent work around 4pm. My brain is tired by then, I have upcoming commitments, and I push the important work to tomorrow. A hundred times over. 

Now, I’m doing the important work in the morning, in between my coffee and breakfast. I’m wired on caffeine, I have all the confidence in the world, and I have a ton of energy. I stack a few bricks on my goal, I eat breakfast, then I let the urgent work carry me through until the end of the day. 

Find the time to do the important work. Don’t tell yourself you’ll wait for urgent work to slow down. It doesn’t. If you do anything longer than a week, inconveniences and distractions arise. This is life. Accept it. Find a time to do the work and do it even if times are crazy.