Urgent Vs Important | Lessons From a Funeral

We sat in a hotel lobby in rural Illinois with a poorly taxidermy mounted cross eyed coyote looking at everyone in the foyer. The family is pouring in from all over the country during COVID 19, masked up, ready to bury our grandfather. He had passed on Friday morning and we were all gathering on Saturday and Sunday.

As we pour into the only hotel in Princeton, Illinois, it’s clear how tired we all are. We dropped our work, changed our plans and either drove or flew too many hours to count.

It makes me wonder. How come we can we all drop our “work” in a moment to gather for a funeral, but we can’t drop our work in a moment to kick the ball in the yard with our kids, or take our spouse on a date, or mountain bike with a friend. (wondering for myself) When I’m stressed and overwhelmed, I drop the important and focus on the work.

I seem to make time for the urgently important, but not the important.

Why does it take so much to bring family together? How come we can’t make time for the important? Why does the urgent take precedence?

Maybe this week … begin focusing on the important … so we don’t get to the urgent and realize we’ve lost out all along.

We let the urgent take precedence in our families too often. What about at work?

How many of us focus on the fires instead of consistency? How many of us focus on the "crisis" instead of the plan? Then we wonder why the plans don't move forward as we planned? 

We are all trying to do our best, focus on what's important, but sometimes we let the urgent become the priority instead of letting what's most important remain the priority. 

I think it's important to remember that not everything is a crisis. Not everything is urgent. If we stick to the plan, maybe we have less urgency to worry about.