Tyranny of the Urgent Study 1

Delegation

These studies include (slightly edited) excerpts from “Tyranny of the Urgent” by Charles Hummel. They are all in italics.

Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, uncompleted projects, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. We desperately need relief.

But would a thirty-hour day really solve the problem? Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four hour allotment? A mother’s work is never finished, and neither is that of any student, teacher, minister, or anyone else we know. Nor will the passage of time help us catch up. Children grow in number and age to require more of our time. Greater experience in profession and church brings more exacting assignments. So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less.

When we do stop to evaluate, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities. Hard work does not hurt us. We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task. The resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy. Not hard work, but doubt and misgiving produce anxiety as we review a month or a year and become oppressed by the pile of unfinished tasks. We sense uneasily that we may have failed to do something important. The winds of other people’s demands have driven us onto a reef of frustration. We confess, quite apart from our sins, “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.”

Several years ago an experienced cotton mill manager said to me, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.” He didn’t realize how hard his maxim hit. It often returns to haunt and rebuke me by raising the critical problem of priorities.

We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today, or even this week. Extra hours of prayer and Bible study, a visit with that friend in need, careful study of an important book, self evaluation: these projects can wait. But the urgent task calls for instant action-endless demands pressure every hour and day.

A man’s home is no longer his castle; it is no longer a place away from urgent tasks because the telephone breaches the walls with imperious demands. And there is no escape – the mobile phone even follows him wherever he goes. The momentary appeal of these tasks seems irresistible and important, and they devour our energy. But in the light of time’s perspective their deceptive prominence fades; with a sense of loss we recall the important task pushed aside. We realize we’ve become slaves to the tyranny of the urgent.

·      What are some of the urgent demands on your time? Requests from others that require you to act “now”…

·      Which of these do you think will still be urgent a month from now? How about a year from now? How about a hundred years from now? Why?

This problem is not new. It’s been the same for thousands of years. Even Moses struggled with it… Read Exodus 18:13-24

·      Does anything impress you about Moses and his relationship with the people?

Imagine what kinds of disputes would have arisen between the hundreds of thousands of families traveling through the wilderness together…
·      How did Moses respond to their problems? Were they urgent? Were they important?

·      What was Jethro’s evaluation of the situation?

·      What role does Jethro suggest for Moses?

·      How does this balance the urgent vs the important?

·      How will this benefit both Moses and the people?

·      How do you think the people reacted?

·      What was Moses’ reaction and what impresses you about it?

Moses responded pretty well to criticism of his time management.

·      How well do you think you rate as far as being open to criticism of your use of time?

            0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

            What factors influence the way you respond to criticism?

There is a New Testament situation which was almost identical. Read Acts 6:1-7.

·      How does this parallel the story of Moses we read before?

·      Is there any way you can use delegation to increase the effectiveness of your time? At work? At home? At church?

Perhaps you feel you can’t delegate because you’re not in authority. But you could still go to the ones in authority and ask them to do the delegating. Perhaps you could simply ask others to take over some of the roles you have which are consuming a disproportionate amount of your time.

·      Who do you need to talk with?

·      When are you going to do that?


	Tyranny of the Urgent Study 1
READING Exodus 18:13-24 Acts 6:1-7 What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.	Delegation These studies include (slightly edited) excerpts from “Tyranny of the Urgent” by Charles Hummel. They are all in italics. Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, uncompleted projects, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. We desperately need relief. But would a thirty-hour day really solve the problem? Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four hour allotment? A mother’s work is never finished, and neither is that of any student, teacher, minister, or anyone else we know. Nor will the passage of time help us catch up. Children grow in number and age to require more of our time. Greater experience in profession and church brings more exacting assignments. So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less. When we do stop to evaluate, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities. Hard work does not hurt us. We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task. The resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy. Not hard work, but doubt and misgiving produce anxiety as we review a month or a year and become oppressed by the pile of unfinished tasks. We sense uneasily that we may have failed to do something important. The winds of other people’s demands have driven us onto a reef of frustration. We confess, quite apart from our sins, “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.” Several years ago an experienced cotton mill manager said to me, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.” He didn’t realize how hard his maxim hit. It often returns to haunt and rebuke me by raising the critical problem of priorities. We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today, or even this week. Extra hours of prayer and Bible study, a visit with that friend in need, careful study of an important book, self evaluation: these projects can wait. But the urgent task calls for instant action-endless demands pressure every hour and day. A man’s home is no longer his castle; it is no longer a place away from urgent tasks because the telephone breaches the walls with imperious demands. And there is no escape – the mobile phone even follows him wherever he goes. The momentary appeal of these tasks seems irresistible and important, and they devour our energy. But in the light of time’s perspective their deceptive prominence fades; with a sense of loss we recall the important task pushed aside. We realize we’ve become slaves to the tyranny of the urgent. · What are some of the urgent demands on your time? Requests from others that require you to act “now”… · Which of these do you think will still be urgent a month from now? How about a year from now? How about a hundred years from now? Why? This problem is not new. It’s been the same for thousands of years. Even Moses struggled with it… Read Exodus 18:13-24 · Does anything impress you about Moses and his relationship with the people? Imagine what kinds of disputes would have arisen between the hundreds of thousands of families traveling through the wilderness together… · How did Moses respond to their problems? Were they urgent? Were they important? · What was Jethro’s evaluation of the situation? · What role does Jethro suggest for Moses? · How does this balance the urgent vs the important? · How will this benefit both Moses and the people? · How do you think the people reacted? · What was Moses’ reaction and what impresses you about it? Moses responded pretty well to criticism of his time management. · How well do you think you rate as far as being open to criticism of your use of time? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 What factors influence the way you respond to criticism? There is a New Testament situation which was almost identical. Read Acts 6:1-7. · How does this parallel the story of Moses we read before? · Is there any way you can use delegation to increase the effectiveness of your time? At work? At home? At church? Perhaps you feel you can’t delegate because you’re not in authority. But you could still go to the ones in authority and ask them to do the delegating. Perhaps you could simply ask others to take over some of the roles you have which are consuming a disproportionate amount of your time. · Who do you need to talk with? · When are you going to do that?