Why I won't be writing for the next four weeks - The difference between important and urgent

This week, I want to start with a little exercise…

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Ask yourself these two questions.

1. What are the most important things in life? 

Your health? Your partner? Your kids? Your house? Your faith? Your football team? …

1. What are your most urgent tasks right now? 

Finish that report? Get the car serviced? Get a promotion? …

I know you’ve just continued reading and haven’t thought about the questions 🙂. So please stop for a moment before reading on and have a quick think. 

1. What are the most important things in your life? 

2. And, right now, what are your most urgent tasks?

We prioritise the wrong things

Research shows that people typically prioritise tasks with the shortest deadlines — even if those tasks aren’t the most important or valuable. This means we often de-prioritise what is actually important.

Why don’t we care about our health until it goes wrong? 

Why don’t we spend as much time with our kids while they’re still young? 

Why don’t we always prioritise our friendships and family over our work?

In The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, Bronnie Ware talked to patients in palliative care about their biggest regrets in life. Not one said they wished they’d worked harder or earned more money. No one regretted not getting a new Porsche or not going for that promotion. They wished they hadn’t worked so hard and wished they'd stayed in touch with their friends.

The day I realised what was actually important to me

In 2021, my 14 year old daughter came to me and proudly told me:

“Daddy, you know I’ve only got four more summer holidays with you.” 

It hit me like a punch in the chest. Where had all this time gone? Why had I not prioritised my children over my work all these years? We’d always planned to go travelling with our kids, but life happened, and we’d never got round to it. And suddenly, here I was looking at the prospect of my little girl leaving home.

So right there and then, I made a decision. I couldn’t take a year out with my kids as they were in secondary school now, but I could spend the summers with them and them only. We could spend real quality time together travelling the world and making memories. And so we have.

In 2021 we travelled around Portugal. In 2022, Costa Rica, in 2023, we spent a month in Greece, and this year, we’re spending a month in a big RV exploring Britain.

This is why for the next few weeks, I won’t be writing anything. I will be focusing on what is important to me - my family.

See you in August.

Tip of the week

Reflect on what is important to you. And, if you can, maybe move it up the priority list a little.

Greece 2023