The urgent has thousands of spokespeople.
The important often has only one.
This week in coaching, a client told me:
“I know I need to work on the big-picture stuff. But I never manage to.
There’s always an email, a request, a problem to fix, someone waiting.”
I hear this sentence often.
In different forms and from very different profiles.
And when you think about it, the problem is simple.
The urgent has plenty of spokespeople.
An incoming email, a Teams message, a team member waiting.
A client following up, a meeting being added, a problem cropping up.
All of it makes itself known. It makes noise. It creates pressure.
And every small task you tick off immediately gives you the feeling of having made progress.
The important works differently.
Thinking about which direction to take.
Preparing a difficult decision.
Anticipating. Stepping back to look at your team.
Moving forward on a strategic topic that won’t produce any visible result today.
None of this rings, flashes or demands an immediate answer.
And our brain tends to play on the side of the urgent.
It prefers what’s clear, concrete, immediately solvable.
The important, on the other hand, often requires staying longer in uncertainty, with no immediate reward.
And for a leader, the stakes are even higher.
Because the higher you go in the organisation…
The more of the value you’re supposed to create comes precisely from this work that demands nothing.
Thinking before the problem arrives.
Making trade-offs. Setting a direction.
Preparing tomorrow’s decisions.
In other words, what no one is asking you for today is sometimes exactly what you’re paid for.
The urgent has thousands of spokespeople.
The important often has only one.
You.
And that’s precisely why you need to stop waiting until you have time to deal with it.
That time almost never appears on its own. It’s decided. It’s blocked out. And sometimes, it has to be defended.
It’s up to you to make room for it before it becomes urgent.