Urgent? Is it really?

We are a generation of busy people.

With all our technological advances in the last couple of decades, the improvements in lifestyle, and ease of life, the one thing that got affected the most was “time.”

Obviously, I don’t mean this in its literal sense. But think about it for a moment, and you will realize that every person and everything in your life is competing for your time — basically, your attention.

An average person has sixteen waking hours available daily. As per research, an average office worker is only productive for 2 hours and 33 minutes in a day, but we spend about eight hours “working.” Then, after office, we have social media with its doom-scrolling, family time, gym, news, Netflix, and so many other entertainment options.

Even with all these options to choose from to spend our day, most of us are not satisfied with where we are in life and how there is a constant battle with time. They are always busy but are not going anywhere.

The Urgency Delimma

So, what’s at the heart of our dilemma? It’s how we define what’s truly urgent.

In our quest for productivity, we often find ourselves procrastinating. Our minds play tricks on us, convincing us that tasks with minimal significance are the ones we should tackle first. We end up investing most of our day focusing on these minor tasks, all the while feeling like we’re on the fast track to productivity paradise.

But here’s the catch: while we might feel like we’re accomplishing something, we’re often just spinning our wheels. These tasks, often steeped in what we’ll call “false urgency,” may give us the illusion of progress, but they rarely propel us toward our genuine life goals.

In essence, we’re running in place, mistaking motion for progress.