Urgency Isn’t the Problem

Urgency is a tricky thing.

It’s not something you eliminate.

But it’s also not something you just turn up and hope for the best.

It has to be measured.

Right-sized.

Matched to what you’re actually trying to move.

And I think that’s where a lot of the conversation starts to break down.

Because urgency tends to get framed in extremes.

On one side, you have pressure - the kind that pushes, forces, creates that “this has to happen now” energy whether it’s true or not. We have all experienced that countdown happening in the corner of a page.

And on the other side, you have the advice to focus on what’s important… and reduce the number of things that are urgent.

Which sounds right.

And it is… to a point...

But somewhere in that framing, urgency quietly becomes something to minimize.

Something to manage down.

Something slightly suspect.

And that doesn’t quite hold up either.

Because nothing meaningful moves without some form of urgency.

Here is where it gets tricky.

When urgency is overused, everything feels important right now.

When it’s underused, things that matter never quite gain traction.

They sit in that space of:

I should get to that

I will get to that

…but they don’t actually move.

Not because they’re not important, because they are.

But because nothing is giving them weight in the present.

I had a manager once who told me he hated deadlines.

And I remember sitting there thinking… okay, but as a project manager, that’s part of how I help things move. Not to necessarily pressure people (though that can happen), but to create a shared sense of what matters and when. And that is a sweet spot of team productivity.

Because without that, everything starts to drift a little, sometimes a lot.

Priorities blur. Things get pushed. Frequently not even intentionally… just quietly.

And so it became really clear, really fast, that we weren’t actually disagreeing about deadlines. That was just the surface.

We were really disagreeing about urgency.

I was trying to create the kind that helps people move together. He only saw and was reacting to the kind of urgency that feels forced, imposed by others.

Needless to say… I didn’t stay very long.

Urgency itself isn’t the issue.

It’s the source of it… and the size of it.

There’s a version of urgency that’s manufactured.

Designed to override your thinking and push you into action.

And then there’s a version that comes from clarity and agreement.

The kind that shows up when you know something matters, and you’ve actually chosen it.

That kind of urgency doesn’t feel frantic.

It feels… steady.

Directed.

Like, this matters now… so I’m going to move it.

Removing urgency entirely doesn’t create freedom.

It creates drift.

So the shift isn’t: get rid of urgency

It’s: get more precise about it

Because when urgency is rooted in manufactured pressure, it overrides you.

But when it’s rooted in clarity, it supports you.

It gives your decisions weight.

It creates a natural sense of timing.

It helps you move… without needing to be pushed.

And if you’re building anything - a business, a project, even just a different way of working - that distinction matters more than it looks like.

Because at some point, things have to move.

Not always faster.

Just… forward.

A Gentle Reframe

Urgency isn’t something to avoid.

It’s something to calibrate - so it’s the right size, from the right source, at the right moment.

From Reflection to Practice

Understanding an idea is helpful. Experiencing it is even better.

The small practice below is simply an invitation to try that shift.

Calibrating Urgency