Urgent isn't the same as important
People tend to choose urgent tasks over important ones, even when the important task has a bigger payoff. In a 2018 study, researchers Meng Zhu, Yang Yang, and Christopher Hsee called this the "mere urgency effect": people picked tasks with short deadlines over tasks that paid more but weren't time-sensitive. Knowing about the pull is the first step to protecting time for the work that actually grows your business.
You sit down Monday morning ready to finally work on the big thing. The new offer. The sales page. The hire you keep putting off.
Then an email comes in. Then a client texts. Then the bank needs a document "by end of day." By 3 o'clock, you've been busy for six straight hours. The big thing hasn't moved an inch.
What the research says
In 2018, Meng Zhu, Yang Yang, and Christopher Hsee ran a series of experiments where people chose between tasks. Some tasks were urgent, meaning they had to be done within a short window. Others weren't urgent but paid off more.
People kept choosing the urgent tasks. Even when the other task was clearly better for them. Even when it was easy to see. The researchers called it the mere urgency effect. A deadline, all by itself, makes a task feel more important than it is.
The good news: when people were nudged to think about the outcomes, the effect got weaker. Urgency wins when we're on autopilot. It loses when we stop and ask what actually matters.
Why this hits business owners so hard
Almost everything coming at you during the day is urgent. Emails, texts, "quick questions," a vendor who needs an answer now.
Almost nothing that grows your business is urgent. Nobody's emailing you at 9 a.m. demanding you finish your new offer. Nobody's calling to ask where your marketing plan is.
So if you let urgency pick, the important work loses. Every time. And at the end of the week, you feel exhausted and stuck at the same time. I wrote about that strange combination in Why busy feels better than productive.
How to stop urgency from running your week
Do the important thing first. Before email. Before messages. Even 45 minutes changes your whole week.
Ask one question when something "urgent" lands. "What happens if this waits until tomorrow?" Most of the time, the answer is nothing.
Give your important work a deadline. Urgency works on us, so use it. Tell a client, a coach, or a friend when the sales page will be done.
Batch the little stuff. Pick two or three times a day to handle messages, instead of reacting to each one.
Look at your week before it starts. During your weekly review, pick the one important thing for the week and put it on your calendar first.
What it looks like
A client of mine had been "working on" a new group program for two months. Every week, it got bumped by client requests. We moved it to the first hour of her day, three days a week, phone in another room. She also told her email list the launch date. Now it was important and urgent.
She launched four weeks later.
The urgent stuff didn't go away. It just stopped getting first dibs on her best hours.
If you want someone helping you protect time for the work that matters most, that's what I do.
Frequently asked questions
What is the mere urgency effect?
It's the tendency to choose urgent tasks over important ones, even when the important task has a bigger reward. Zhu, Yang, and Hsee described it in a 2018 study.
How do I prioritize important tasks over urgent ones?
Do your most important task first each day, ask whether urgent requests can wait until tomorrow, give important work its own deadline, and batch small tasks into set times.
Why do I feel busy but not productive?
Urgent tasks fill your day and feel productive in the moment, but they rarely move your business forward. Protecting time for important work closes that gap.
Sources: Zhu, M., Yang, Y., & Hsee, C. K. (2018). The mere urgency effect. Journal of Consumer Research, 45(3), 673–690.
