Time Management: Urgent Vs. Vital

Time management is a hot topic on Associated Content. At last count, there were 652 articles published on the topic. Prioritization skills and time management skills are vital to the success in any endeavor. With all of the distractions, human and electronic, it's easy to lose track of time and deadlines.

Differentiating an urgent task from a vital task can help you with your time management goals. An urgent task is something that demands immediate attention. Examples of urgent tasks are responding to business emails, answering the phone when it rings, and tending to a crying baby. But how many of these tasks are truly important and have to be completed immediately? The only truly important task is tending to the crying baby.

An example of the difference between vital and urgent can be found in an example from a college course. On the first day of the semester, the professor holds up a book and says, "If you want to earn an 'A' in my class, you must learn all of the content in this book. The final exam will be based entirely on this book". In all likelihood, most university students would not go out, buy the book and begin studying it immediately.

The studying and memorizing of the book is not an urgent priority on the first night of the semester. However, on the night before the final exam, studying the book becomes a vital and urgent priority. The book was there to look at all semester but until an urgent need for it arises, it wasn't touched all semester.

A thesaurus defines vital as crucial, critical and fundamental. An example of vital can be explained by evaluating how much time we spend speaking one on one with our children and spouses. With all the distractions of daily life, it's possible that we don't spend more than 5 minutes a day participating in one on one, uninterrupted conversations with kids and spouses.

Having these conversations isn't an urgent priority because the kids and spouses will be there tomorrow. If we're too busy or tired to make the time, we often think it's okay because we can always do it tomorrow. However, taking to time to really talk to our closest family members is crucial, critical and fundamental to the positive relationship we have with each other.

Some tasks may never be urgent but they most certainly are vital. Other tasks are urgent but cannot really be considered vital. We can better manage our time and our lives by knowing the difference.