Seth Godin has an article on his blog about urgent vs. important. For the most part, I think he is right on the money. Below are some excerpts:
There are two ways to catch a plane. The first, which happens to be the most common, is to leave on time, do your best to park nearby, repeatedly glance at your watch, and then start moving faster and faster. By the time you get to security, you realize that you're quite late, so you cut the line ("My plane leaves in 10 minutes!" you shout). You walk fast. As you get closer to your gate, you realize that walking fast isn't going to work, so you start to jog. Three gates away, you break into a run, and if you're lucky, you barely make the flight.
The second way is to leave for the airport 10 minutes early.
How can you tell if you're too obsessed with urgent?
Do senior people at your company refuse to involve themselves in decisions until the last minute?
Do meetings regularly get canceled because something else came up?
Is waiting until the last minute the easiest way to get a final decision from your
I don't know about you, but I can answer those questions in the afirmative.