1 Simple Way to Find out What is Important
In a startup project, we have tons of things to do. When a problem comes up, we tend to think it’s urgent, it should be cared asap, especially when things are delayed. Then, we will think “if it’s important or not”. How do you find out if it’s really important?
Last week, Seth Godin and Ben Carlson gave me a clear explanation about the difference between “urgent” and “importance” on their great post.
“If you take care of important things, the urgent things don’t show up as often. The opposite is never true.”
Urgent things come up anytime if we don’t understand what is important.
In the real world, things which are important in a project are different by person. Everyone have their motivation according to their life, value, social position. What if the biggest business partner said: “This is urgent”? What if one of your work that you concluded critical path delayed so much? Can you find out what is the most important for you?
Even if you focus on yourself, the most important thing tends to be invisible. According to Robert B Claldini, we psychologically tend to follow consistency. When we make a decision ourselves, we tend to make another decision based on it. So that we can easily stop thinking once we make a decision.
When we try something new, the following new thing also happens. Situation changes and limitation changes.
In order to focus on an “important” thing in such world, it is essential to keep asking what is your goal. The more we ask this question ourselves, the fast and the more accurate we will be able to find out what is truly important. This skill will help us make a correct decision more quickly.
