We have a way of convincing ourselves that everything is urgent. Menial, useless tasks take top priority and must happen right now. It makes us feel important or busy and it's easy to do.

We also convince ourselves that really important tasks can wait. Tough conversations and difficult decisions that need to happen immediately, not tomorrow, not in a minute, but absolutely right this second get pushed until later.

The price of the former is that we do a bunch of things that don't matter. It's not productive, but not insanely costly.

The price of the latter is incalculable. Delaying the urgent can cause relationships to collapse, businesses to fold and stress to mount by the moment.

The decision to act is rarely easy but often clear.