Are you totally stressed out? Does it feel like you are continuously being rushed to give more of yourself when there is nothing left to give? If you are having these emotions, then, it's likely that you are entangled in the "urgency trap". This occurs when you achieve more commitments for your time and attention than you get the ability to perform. Thus, you continuously work on whatever is most urgent. Unfortunately, this is the worst way to prioritize your time as you are most likely spending the bulk of your day working on someone else's priorities.
Why Do You Become Pressured?
The may reason you become pressured is that expectations are greater than outcomes. This expectation gap creates both internal and external pressure. If the gap becomes too great, it can cause stress. To close this gap, you must either lower expectations or enhance outcomes. To lower expectations, it's important to understand who sets expectations for you? Here are some possibilities:
* You - you set expectations through your own desires and things you want to accomplish.
* Others - other people set expectations for you through peer pressure, role pressure, culture pressure, and societal pressure.
* Feelings - your own emotions create expectations. This can come through guilt, which is pressure from the past, or anxiety, which is pressure about the future.
These expectations are a big part of how you get entangled in the 'urgency trap'. Urgency is the fog that threatens clarity. Clarity is the ticket to getting what you want out of life.
Accelerated Steps to Get Out of the 'Urgency Trap'
If you find yourself caught in the 'Urgency Trap', don't give up hope. If you want control over your time, you must start with getting a handle on your current and past commitments. There is a proven formula that will help you dig out fast and stay out. The main goal of this formula is to create a time wedge. This time wedge will allow you to achieve room to breathe, to plan, and to think creatively. So, how do you create a time wedge?
First, list all of the things that you are committed to do. Whether you have it written down, in a pile, on your computer, or in your head; you must create a master list of everything that you need to do.
Second, decide what you won't do. There are things on your list that don't truly need to be done at all. This doesn't mean that the commitment is not important to someone, but you have to be honest with how much you can truly get done. You may decide that some things on your list would be more appropriate for someone else to do. If this is case, create a separate list of commitments that you are going to give to someone else to do.
Third, sort this list by the following 'urgency' categories: Crucial, Current, and Later. Crucial commitments must be handled right away. These are tasks that will impact your life in the next 24 hours if you don't get them done. Current commitments can be handled this week or next but must be done at some point within the next few weeks. Later commitments get more flexibility on the timing. These are things that you must do but they are not necessary to do in the next week or two.
Fourth, do something from the Crucial commitment list. Once you have determined the crucial items, pick one and do it. This will give you momentum to keep moving and take action on other items on your list.
Finally, review your three lists at least once a week. To keep this system working for you, you need to make sure your commitments are in the best category. The most desirable way to do this is to take time at either the beginning of the week or the end of the week to repeat the steps in this formula. There may be new commitments to add, some commitments may no longer be necessary, and other commitments may need to move to a different category.
Follow this proven formula, get out of the urgency trap, and begin to live the life that you've always wanted.
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