Most of us have the best of intentions when we start out our day or our week. Some of us may even have spent time reflecting, ahead of time, on what should be our ‘most important’ ministry tasks in that coming week. However, the week gets started and … two or three ‘urgent’ emails come into our box needing ‘immediate’ attention; a ministry partner calls and asks if you could do lunch together today; and the one hour Skype call turns into a two and one-half hour discussion. It’s the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ where everything that comes across our desk needs to be addressed now.
The ‘tyranny of the urgent’ plagues all of us.
Our hearts, as cross cultural workers, are attuned to the needs of others and so we genuinely want to meet the needs of others; whether it’s an email, a luncheon appointment or an online discussion. We just have a hard time saying ‘no’ in the moment and learning to juggle our days in light of His mission to which He has called us.
‘Interruptions’ are certainly God given opportunities for growth and ministry. However, God has given us a missional task that calls for us to focus our energies, not dissipate them in a flurry of activity that may not lead us to seeing that missional task realized.
Perhaps the following steps (or others) might help us stem the tide of the plague of the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ in our lives:
Ask the simple question: Do I really need to do this now? Oftentimes, I place the expectation of immediate response on myself. When I go back to a person and ask if I can meet with them later or if I can answer their question in a few days, they are happy to give me that added time.
Solicit the help of others. Many of the leadership teams I have worked on have helped me to respond to an immediate request by saying: “I need to talk to my leadership team about this before I can give you an answer.” This lets me to put that activity in a larger context and to get the input of others first.
Ponder whether the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ activity helps to fulfill the larger calling of God on one’s life that week. The answer may be a resounding ‘yes’ and you can jump in with all your gusto. Or it may be a ‘no’. Yet, by placing it in that larger context, it gives you the ability to sort out those ‘tyranny of the urgent activities’ so as to keep your mind and heart focused on the larger objective.
Filed under: Accountability, Intentionality, Mission, Setting goals |
Thoughts Along The Journey 
Very wise counsel, David.
Here’s hoping others might have some (better) suggestions for addressing the ‘tyranny of the urgent’!
A recent article on Keith Webb’s blog states that “When I say yes to something I say no to another activity.” I see the importance of growing through reading, meditation, and spending more time in prayer, but the urgent task that I respond to by saying yes often pushes those things aside for another day, which then becomes another week. Thanks for the reminder.
That’s always the hard part about the ‘tyranny of the urgent’. It seems so important, but it really isn’t. Those longer term objectives get easily pushed aside. It’s why we need others help to say ‘yes’ to the more important objectives. Thanks for sharing.