Urgent vs important
The key to good time management is to be able to tell the difference between the words urgent and important.
The Eisenhower matrix
The Eisenhower matrix shows that whether an action is important or urgent will influence when it should be done and who could complete it.
Important but not urgent tasks
These are actions that have no immediate deadline (not urgent) but are essential in order to complete the end goal (important). When completing the Community challenge most tasks will be important, and will only become urgent if you fall behind with personal deadlines.
Example
As part of the team action plan you are given the task of completing the risk assessment.
This is important as it allows the team to identify the potential problems that could arise. However, ensuring that the risk assessment is completed is not urgent unless you find that you haven't finished it in enough time for the team to move on with other tasks.
Important and urgent tasks
If an action is both urgent and important, it will require immediate attention (urgent) and will be essential in order to fulfil the end goal (important).
Example
It is your first day coaching year 7 and a member of your team is ill. You will need to amend the plan and redistribute the roles amongst the team.
This task is urgent, as your coaching session is due to start soon. It is also important, as you must each know what to do in order for the session to be a success. Careful planning and organisation can help with these types of tasks as you build in a contingency, eg everyone is confident with the session content and so the redistribution of tasks isn鈥檛 a problem.
Urgent but not important tasks
If an action is urgent but not important it requires immediate attention (urgent) but is not essential in order to fulfil the end goal (not important). This could include interruptions from others. The points raised during the interruptions often feel important, but are often not linked to the end goal. The suggestions are not necessarily bad tasks, but you must keep the balance between these and those that are important.
Example
As part of the team action plan you are given specific tasks to complete. Whilst you are completing the risk assessment another student asks for help using the computer software to create their resources.
This requires your immediate attention and so is urgent, as the pupil is waiting for a response. However, it is not important for your end goal. You must decide if you will give it your attention. If it won鈥檛 impact your work, you could address it. However, if doing so will have a negative impact on your end goal you could delegate by asking someone else to address it on your behalf.
Not important and not urgent tasks
An action that does not require attention and is not essential for the end goal is a distraction.
Example
You are completing a risk assessment on the computer and decide to listen to music whilst working. You surf the web searching for a song which takes a few minutes. Each time you search for a new song you are wasting several minutes which could have been spent completing the task. It is difficult to eliminate these tasks altogether, however in order to work efficiently you must try and limit the time given to such tasks.
Question
You鈥檙e completing your personal project and the teacher has asked for your aims and objectives by tomorrow.
Is completing this work urgent, important, both or neither?
Both.
It is urgent as it needs your immediate attention to get it done on time. It is also important, because if you don鈥檛 get it done you will be late. This shows a lack of organisation and responsibility and you won鈥檛 be able to move on to the next task. As a result, you're likely to fall behind with your work.
Question
Is holding a team meeting at a particular time urgent, important, both or neither?
Probably neither.
It is not urgent as you can hold a meeting at another time. Missing one meeting is probably not important, as it won鈥檛 have serious consequences for the overall success of the activity.
Priority matrix
Understanding the difference between urgent and important will help you prioritise your time and workload.
Think about what you need to do, and organise your tasks in the appropriate sections of the grid to decide what needs to be done first, next, later or last.