“It’s beauty in the struggle”
– J. Cole on Love Yourz
For some reason, it’s hard for many people to operate with a sense of urgency. Unless there are deadlines, many people will coast along and then take action. Even if something is super important, why does it still not feel like it’s urgent?
Before we continue, I’d like to welcome you to the October 2020 Opinions Column. This is the place where I talk about whatever’s on my mind, from music to movies to staying motivated. If you’re new here, welcome! And if you’re returning, welcome back! And with that said, let’s talk about moving with urgency.
I guess the reason I’m even bringing this topic up is because I’m super late with the Opinions Column (again lol) and I was thinking about that (while also trying to figure out what’s going on). If I do some self-reflection, I feel like I acted super fast in college and treated everything like it was urgent. Nothing could wait and I needed answers instantly. Fast forward to when I got a corporate job, and things changed. I realized people didn’t respond to emails that fast, calls weren’t returned until days later, and people had a very “casual” approach to work. It felt weird at first, but years later, I feel like it influenced me. Sigh.
Now with that chapter of my life behind me, I’m trying to ask myself the tough questions to address HOW to act with a sense of urgency again and get back to the old me. To be honest with you, I still struggle with the answer. I think one of the main things to consider is prioritization. If something is genuinely important and needs to get done asap, there’s a sense of urgency that will kick in that will make you want to take action. If we can identify those things, that’ll help us with other things. Maybe? Hopefully? Lol let’s explore more.
Let’s say I’ve got a song to finish. I may let it sit for awhile and not do anything with it. Now, let’s say you have an important project due at work and your job is on the line if you don’t get it done. You may act differently. Why is that? Well, your job is on the line (and that’s likely a big deal) so there are consequences to your actions. Perhaps if we apply some of those things to other things we care about, our mentality will shift.
I think one of the reasons we don’t treat certain things with urgency is because our priorities change as we get older. And because priorities shift, so does how much time we have. In college, I had all the time to work on music. I used to block out ENTIRE days to write (ah, that was glorious lol). Now, I have other things that I’m responsible for that change the landscape. So then, things that aren’t top priorities aren’t urgent. I think the trick is to tell yourself that they are priorities, they are important, and they do matter. Here’s the other thing – you have to believe that. If you do, then you’ll have a much better shot at getting things done.
I hope to continue working at this throughout this year and the next in an effort to become the best version of myself. Hopefully we can all take something from this!
Aight y’all, that’ll do it for me for this edition of the Opinions Column. Until the next one, stay up, stay safe, and hold ya head. Ajaxxx signing out, PEACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Photo credit: Photo by Mat Brown from Pexels
