This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 104.
Is it urgent or important? Why it matters for life and business.
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Hello, Michelle. How's everything going?
Hey, Lindsay. Good, good. How are you? I am excited to be here today on Business English.
I love how on this show we talk about things that are so relevant to our work lives.
Uh-huh. Absolutely. I know. I love it too.
Lindsay, so I kind of was thinking about something because on a recent episode of All Ears English, we were talking about this a little bit.
Lindsay, how do you prioritize tasks? Do you ever feel like, maybe you're kind of going along and you're doing something and then something comes up and it's like, oh my gosh, I have to do this.
I have to do this first. And then things kind of, I don't know, don't get done in the way you intend.
Yeah. Yeah. I call that putting out fires, right?
The urgent, the fires are urgent, but they're usually not the most important unless they are.
Like if our app breaks, that's important.
We have to fix the app right away. We have our team on call and they get in there, they get in the code and they fix up the code. but there are certain things that can feel important but are actually just urgent right yeah okay so guys we are going to talk about this today this is going to be a really really interesting and unique episode um this is this concept of urgent versus important So on episode 1995 of Allers English, this came up a little bit, right?
This idea of what is urgent and what is important.
And so you came up with that we should talk about this on the Business English podcast.
So we are I mean, we were talking, I believe, on episode 1995 on All Ears English.
Guys, if you don't listen to All Ears English, head on over there.
Get started listening to those episodes.
And episode 95, we spoke about the expression bigger fish to fry.
Oh, yeah. Prioritize. And so that's where this kind of came up.
And we decided let's do a whole episode on the Business English podcast for this.
Yeah, I think our listeners, especially as you guys move through the higher levels of an organization, every day is a battle.
Urgent versus important. Every single decision you make, every decision, everything you decide to do in a given day, you have to weigh, right?
Is this important? Like really going to move your company forward in the long term?
But no one is knocking down the door and nothing is burning up.
Those things are the things we need to try to do more.
It's like the design time we talk about Michelle, right?
Designing the business. So let's get into this.
And we have an interesting matrix that I think is pretty famous in business schools as well. oh okay very cool yeah so we're gonna talk about that today guys also another episode of the business english podcast to go on over to listen to is episode 87 how do you make a living business english vocabulary for work conversations so go on and listen to that um yeah so lindsay Why do you think this distinction is important?
I had actually never heard of this before you brought it up on All Ears English.
And then I thought, oh, that's so interesting.
So tell me, why do you think it's important to have a distinction between urgent and important?
Oh, my gosh, because what we do becomes the direction of our company.
What we do is what gets done. That is so articulate.
Yeah. what we do is what gets done so you know at the end of every quarter we as a team we sit down we have a team sync we say you know these are our goals for the year for the quarter but that doesn't mean those things are going to get done if my to-do list is just my email inbox then i'm really just putting out fires every day and we could get to the end of the quarter and we haven't done those things that will move the business forward that's dangerous Mm hmm.
So we are going to talk about what is called Eisenhower's urgent, important principle.
And we looked at a couple of different articles.
One is from mindtools.com. It's called Eisenhower's urgent, important principle, using time effectively, not just efficiently.
So this is by the mindtools content team, guys.
And so where did this come from, Lindsay?
This is from a speech. yeah i guess this came from a 1954 speech which eisenhower gave to the second assembly of the world council of churches uh dwight d eisenhower right and he was quoting dr j roscoe miller who was the president of the time of northwestern university and he said i have two kinds of problems the urgent and the important the urgent are not important and the important are never urgent it's true oh my gosh This Eisenhower principle is they say that this is how he organized his workload.
And honestly, you know, what could be more important than how a president organizes their workday?
Right. Yes, that is important. That is that is very important.
Yeah. So in the article, it talks about how If it's important, it's leading us to kind of getting something done, a bigger goal.
And it said that this could even be personal.
It could be professional, whatever it is.
And the urgent activities they talk about, these are more, I mean, they're urgent.
They have to be done right in the moment or it feels that way.
And the key there is that it mentions that this is about what someone else wants to achieve. and what someone else's goals are.
And this is, sometimes we get caught up in the urgent things and we leave behind the important ones.
It's so true. I mean, this is one of the things why I struggle constantly with spending time in my email because usually email is exactly that.
It's everyone else's kind of agenda or needs, right?
Which is fine. We need to spend a certain amount of time addressing that.
But I tend to have my email open all day. which means sometimes those important things don't get done.
So we need to find a way, what can we do?
Can we check our email just in the beginning of the day and the end of the day and spend the rest of the day addressing important things?
What can we do with our time? Right, right, right.
And so it said that the article talked about how people it's just what you're saying.
You fall into what they're calling the urgency trap.
Yes. Right. And you just keep on. OK, this needs to go.
This needs to we need to do this. We need to do this.
And then the important things get left behind.
So so what they spoke about was this idea of what could be a good opportunity. order to do things in?
How do you prioritize it? And then we're going to get into this.
Well, this is really the Eisenhower matrix.
We'll just skip down to that part. So there's an Eisenhower matrix.
This was in an article on Reclaim.ai. Let's talk about this matrix, Lindsay.
So what do you see here? We're looking at it.
We're describing it. So a matrix, a quadrant, right?
We have four quadrants, right? Four kind of squares here.
And in the top left is kind of the thing to do, right?
It's the things that are both urgent and important.
And we want to do those things first because clearly if it's both, it checks all the boxes, right? right and then we move over to the one next door which is important but not urgent we need to schedule that right so maybe we're not doing it immediately but it has to be in our plans that means when are we doing it block off time in which the urgent can't impede on that time right maybe i'm not checking my email during that time on mondays from three to five everything else is just gonna wait and i'm just gonna address the important right And then on the bottom half of this Eisenhower matrix, what is it, Michelle?
What's the first one? So this is what, okay.
So not important, but urgent. Yes. Okay.
So this talks, this says delegate it. So this, the, the chart says the matrix says that these are tasks that don't, aren't very, don't have much value, but they need to get done.
Right. But they're not, this is key. This is, I quote, they don't require your expertise, right?
Yeah. So, yeah, this is just something, you know, maybe something it talks about.
It says examples are busy work, interruptions or some regular routine.
So busy work, you know, I mean, I've had I had a job in the past where I did have a lot of busy work and that happens at jobs.
I mean, it's not saying that this is like.
I mean, all of these are a part of work, right?
Yes. And I remember feeling like, oh, anybody, anybody could do this.
I'm not bringing a special thing to this.
Okay. And so, you know, that was, it felt, yeah, like something that could have been delegated.
But I think, you know, this is just a part of work sometimes.
Yeah. Interesting. And the key is knowing when to suggest that that thing gets delegated or when to just do it and say, this is part of my job.
Right. How do we know? How can we decide?
Exactly. Sometimes you just have to do it and that's fine, but it might help you prioritize.
And then the fourth quadrant is not important and not urgent.
And this one, they say, get rid of it. Right.
Yeah. They're going to be distracting. And, you know, it's just a waste of time.
The Matrix mentions don't do it. So this is things like, you know, meetings that don't make sense or socializing or, you know, just like kind of searching the web mentions.
So, I mean, those two, but even tasks that you've been doing for a long time that maybe, let's say, only create a small part of the company's revenue, maybe that could just be taken out completely, right?
Just delete that revenue line. That could happen.
So some of our listeners here, you guys are in high level positions in your company, and there are definitely things that we're doing that aren't necessarily bringing a lot of value to the company.
They could be actually taken off. entirely you know what this makes me think of michelle it's a great analogy for dating problems that people have because you know what i'm you know how people like imagine that person you probably dated this person i know i did right didn't marry that person but there was someone i was infatuated with that was very dramatic right there was a lot of drama in our relationship It wasn't necessarily true love, but there was drama, drama, drama, drama.
And the human mind can get hooked on that drama, the dopamine of the drama.
Whereas the person that you're eventually in love with and probably want to marry is the person that is not like bringing you on a drama roller coaster of the urgent.
Instead, they're the important where it's calm.
I think it's a beautiful analogy. It makes total sense.
That's true. And that's what you want to pursue is the important, not the urgent.
So love that. Exactly. No, I love that.
I love that different way of looking at it as an analogy, because, yeah, it is true.
That's when you know things are right. You know, it's not so dramatic.
You know, it's just important. Exactly. So let's talk about some other examples.
So, like, maybe let's talk about what would be... urgent and important for allers english and i thought of some examples but lindsay maybe uh maybe uh you want to think of some as well so i thought of one uh urgent and important yeah what is it what did you think of OK, so I was thinking about when we were building the business English course because we had a lot of deadlines.
We had a lot of things we needed to accomplish right away.
Interviews, getting a voice recordings done, all these things.
And that was urgent and important. because that was moving the business forward, doing something that was a larger project that we could use for a long time that could help a lot of students.
And within it, the tasks were very urgent.
So I think that that course, building that course was urgent and important.
What do you I think that's a great example.
I think that's a great example. Absolutely.
It's a big project. It was a big rock goal for us and it had to be done in a timely manner.
So we had to have those meetings. Another one would just be this podcast.
This podcast is a very important place in all ears English.
So getting it done is both urgent and important.
I would say, even though, you know, it's a regular thing, it is urgent and important.
Yes. That's true. That is a very good example.
And what's something that's not important, but urgent, for example, Michelle?
Oh, not important. Well, what about important, but not urgent?
Yeah. Okay. I said, so I said that our team meetings are important, but not urgent.
It's not something like, for example, they're very, very important.
And they push forward, like, that's what I'm looking at quadrant two.
So urgent and important. Yeah, quadrant two.
High value tasks that strategize around long term goals with no set deadline.
So they can be urgent. Sometimes these meetings are urgent.
Like, for example, we're having a meeting coming up that does have some urgent things to discuss.
But at the same time, like, for example, you and I, we just had to prioritize something because we had a special episode to focus on and we needed to do we were going to do like a meeting, the two of us.
Yes. When prioritizing that, it kind of the urgent one, because it was a special episode that was urgent and important.
Yeah. Yeah. That prioritize rather than this meeting, because we will do that because it is important.
Yeah. But it can also be. Yeah. Right. If we push it a couple of weeks because the other thing takes precedent.
Right. So I think we kind of use this matrix in a way.
Would you agree with that? would agree i like that i mean we and this is this is what we have to do in business guys right if we don't do this i mean we're we're just lost we're kind of victims to all these different tasks and we don't know we always have to do this uh i love it um when it comes to things that are not important but urgent i would say things like uh Maybe updating a website, right?
Like the back end of your WordPress site, back end things, putting up social media videos.
Social media has a certain place, but I think we understand where it belongs, right?
And also I'm thinking more of like the actual act of putting them up, right?
Like making them and having them is important, I think.
But like the, yeah, I would say like, like it's important that they, yeah, the actual like postings i would say is like you know um because that one also i'm looking at it uh this says uh don't require your expertise so like making the video is one thing but like the posting um i would say is if you would it would be like that's not like towards our long-term goal the actual act of putting them into the you do you know what i mean but it's urgent yeah so that makes sense that makes sense this is going to be different for every company you know so i would encourage you guys to go dive into this matrix and try to fill in your own tasks for your own job and your company too we definitely use this i think we just use this matrix a little bit more intuitively you know when we make those decisions what do you think michelle Yeah, yeah, I think so, too.
So yeah, just thinking back on our is something from this week, we had to reprioritize.
And I really think we did intuitively use this matrix.
And then not important and not urgent. I hope you know, we're not, you know, would be something I mean, this is just general if you're sitting scrolling on your phone.
So like, that's Yeah. So I'm just like wasting time.
Right, right. Of course. Oh my gosh. Or if you go to YouTube and you get lost in a YouTube, maybe you go to check out another YouTube channel that teaches English and then you get stuck and you get in a loop of suggested videos, obviously.
Right. That's not a great way to spend time.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, Michelle, so how can our listeners refer to this, that they're using some kind of framework or they're trying to prioritize in their English conversations?
Right. So you can talk about this with someone and you can say, I'm trying to work with the Eisenhower urgent important principle and prioritize my tasks.
And then you could follow up with like, oh, have you ever heard of this?
It's really useful. Or you could say working within this framework and we say within this framework has really helped me get organized.
And just having the words and knowing the key differences, guys, you know, maybe that's not something that you've thought about when it comes to English in the past, the difference in meaning between urgent and important.
I'd say that is the biggest key takeaway from today is just understanding the vocabulary differences there.
Right. Right. Right. Right. I absolutely agree.
So I think this can be really helpful. I mean, this this is just huge for the workplace.
You know, I do think sometimes it can be tricky because if you are, you know, you kind of have to prioritize the things in the way your boss wants them prioritized.
So if your boss wants all these urgent things done, I mean, we may not always have that choice, Lindsay.
That's a good point, Michelle. So it depends on who's making the decisions.
But I think in a good company, people have a lot of autonomy to make their own decisions.
And then obviously... We talk about delegating, there's a result we want, and then as an employee, we can decide what matters the most to get this result that I have to deliver, right?
Yeah, interesting. What's the takeaway today, Michelle?
I don't think we have time for the vocabulary.
Yeah, I think we've talked about it. Yeah, this is a great, useful concept to help us at work.
Guys, it can also help us in our personal lives.
I was thinking about my personal life. And you know, I always have a to do list.
And there there is something in my life that I've been putting off because it's and it's and it's important, but it's not urgent.
So it's like something that finally just yesterday, I started moving on it again.
Nice. But like, you know, so this can be in your personal life as well.
So it's helpful to say, wait a second, wait a second.
This is important. Just take a break on the urgent stuff.
I like Lindsay, what you said about maybe setting aside specific time to say no urgent stuff, just the important stuff.
It's true. Yeah. Yeah, you really need it.
You need a built-in time, whether it's every month in a business when you look at the P&L or whether it's a personal time, Sunday nights, when you talk about your family goals, right?
Things you want to, maybe like investments you want, places you want to travel to, those are never urgent.
Like booking a flight to Hawaii, of course, if you always wanted to see the volcanoes in Hawaii, it's not going to be urgent, but it's going to be important when you get to the end of your life, Michelle.
Right. Oh, very nice. So yeah, good. Anything else you want to leave us with?
I think this is good because I love how this applies to business and life, right?
We got to take our personal lives just as seriously as we take our business and work.
That's true. Yeah, that's true. Love it.
All right. Well, thanks for bringing this up in the episode.
And I'm glad we spoke about it today. And guys, hopefully this can help you get your priorities straight in your work and personal life.
Sounds good, Michelle. Talk to you soon.
Bye. All right. Bye, Lindsay. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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