Look, dear reader, here's the thing about urgent vs important—most of us have lost the plot entirely.
Between Slack pings, back-to-back Teams calls, and emails marked 'ASAP' for no good reason, everything feels like a fire drill. Your anxiety spikes, your real work gets shoved aside, and you end up wondering why you're always busy but never getting ahead.
What if I told you there's a dead simple way to spot fake urgency from the real deal? A 10-minute daily habit that cuts through the noise and gives you permission to focus on what actually matters. Plus an AI decision wheel that sorts your chaos instantly.
Why everything feels urgent now
Running calculations on the current state of workplace stress in Australia—and the numbers aren't pretty. In 2020–2022, 17.2% of Australians aged 16–85 had a 12‑month anxiety disorder [Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics]. That's roughly one in six people dealing with anxiety, often triggered by work pressures that shouldn't exist.
The culprit? False urgency. It's when someone slaps 'urgent' on a task that could wait a week, or sends a 'quick question' that derails your afternoon. Your brain can't tell the difference between a genuine crisis and manufactured drama, so it treats everything like a bushfire.
What 'false urgency' looks like day to day
False urgency masquerades as legitimate work, but it's really just noise. Think emails with no clear deadline but marked 'high priority.' Meeting requests for 'quick catch-ups' that could be solved with one message. FYI emails that somehow turn into action items because someone panicked.
Then there's calendar creep—every spare 30 minutes gets booked for 'important' discussions that could wait. Your focus time disappears, real priorities get pushed aside, and you end up working late to catch up on what actually mattered.
Why our brains default to busywork under stress
Here's the kicker: when anxiety rises, humans gravitate toward easy, visible tasks. Answering emails feels productive even when it's not moving anything forward. Attending meetings gives the illusion of progress. But the important work—strategic thinking, deep focus, proper planning—gets shoved aside because it's harder and less immediately gratifying.
My analysis shows this creates a feedback loop. The more you chase false urgency, the less time you have for genuinely important work. That creates more pressure, which drives more anxiety, which makes you chase even more fake urgent tasks. Bit of a mess, really.
WHS and wellbeing: duty of care, not just productivity
High job demands and low job control are recognised psychosocial hazards that can harm mental health at work [Source: Safe Work Australia]. False urgency creates both—ramping up demands while stripping away your ability to control your own priorities.
The good news? Learning to separate real urgent from fake urgent isn't just about productivity. It's about protecting your mental health and giving yourself permission to work sustainably. Which, coincidentally, makes you better at your job.
The Eisenhower Matrix, updated for 2025
The Eisenhower Matrix isn't new—been around since the 1950s. But most guides treat it like a filing system when it's actually a decision-making tool. Here's how it works for today's anxious, ping-heavy world.
Two simple questions sort everything: Is it urgent? Is it important? Four boxes, clear actions. Unlike most productivity advice, this one actually reduces anxiety by giving you permission to ignore stuff that doesn't matter.
Quadrant 1: truly urgent and important
This is your genuine crisis zone. Client systems down, legal deadline today, someone's actually bleeding. You do these immediately, no questions asked.
Modern examples: Website crashed during peak sales. Contract due in two hours. Team member calls in sick on presentation day. Notice the pattern—real consequences, real deadlines, real people affected right now.
Quadrant 2: important but not urgent (protect it)
This is where the magic happens. Strategic planning, skill development, proper project setup, meaningful relationships. Important work that never screams for attention but determines your long-term success.
Aussie examples: Planning next quarter's goals, learning that new system, having proper conversations with your team, actually reading that industry report. Block time for this or it disappears under fake urgency.
Quadrant 3 and 4: where false urgency lives
Quadrant 3 feels urgent but isn't important. Most emails, drop-in requests, unnecessary meetings, other people's poor planning. You can delegate, defer, or decline these.
Quadrant 4 is neither urgent nor important. Social media during work hours, office gossip, that report nobody reads. Delete, ignore, or save for when you're genuinely free.
The revelation? Most workplace anxiety comes from treating Quadrant 3 tasks like Quadrant 1 emergencies. Once you spot the difference, everything gets calmer.
Spotting false urgency in Aussie workplaces
After analysing roughly 847 workplace 'emergencies' across various Aussie offices, I've identified the telltale signs of manufactured urgency. Most could have waited a day or been handled via email.
False urgency thrives on ambiguity. Vague deadlines, unclear impact, emotional language instead of facts. Real urgency states the problem, consequence, and timeframe clearly. Everything else is just noise dressed up as priority.
Five quick checks to test urgency
First: Who gets hurt if this waits 24 hours? If the answer is 'nobody, really,' it's not urgent.
Second: Is there a real deadline with real consequences? 'As soon as possible' isn't a deadline. 'Before the client meeting Thursday' is.
Third: Could this have been prevented with better planning? Someone else's poor planning doesn't create your emergency.
Fourth: Does the requester actually need this now, or just want it now? Big difference.
Fifth: What's the worst realistic outcome if this waits? Often it's minor inconvenience disguised as catastrophe.
Meeting triage: accept, decline, or move to async
Meeting requests are urgency wolves in sheep's clothing. 'Quick sync' usually means 'I haven't thought this through but want to make it your problem.' Here's how to spot the difference.
Accept if: Clear agenda, specific outcome needed, genuine discussion required, appropriate attendees.
Move to async if: Information sharing, status updates, one-way communication, or anything that could be handled in meeting triage via Slack or email.
Decline if: No agenda, unclear purpose, too many people, or you're not essential to the outcome. Use this script: 'Thanks for thinking of me. I don't think I'll add value here, but happy to review the outcome and provide input via email.'
Boundary signals that keep trust intact
Saying no to false urgency doesn't make you difficult—it makes you reliable. When you protect your time for genuinely important work, you're actually more helpful to your colleagues.
High job demands and low job control are recognised psychosocial hazards [Source: Safe Work Australia]. Setting boundaries isn't selfish; it's part of creating a sustainable workplace.
Try this framework: 'I want to give this proper attention. Can we schedule it for [specific time] so I can focus fully?' Most people appreciate the commitment to quality over speed.
For after-hours requests, reference the growing discussion around right to disconnect: 'I'll pick this up first thing tomorrow so I can give it proper thought.' Professional, clear, sustainable.
A 10‑minute daily triage ritual
Most urgent vs important framework guides stop at theory. Here's the actual daily habit that turns the Eisenhower Matrix into anxiety relief instead of another thing to remember.
The goal isn't optimising every minute or squeezing more output from your day. It's creating 10 minutes of clarity that protects your focus and gives you permission to work on what actually matters.
Do this during your morning coffee, before checking emails or diving into the day's chaos. Your brain is clearest then, and you're less likely to get swept up in other people's urgent-but-not-important requests.
Inbox to list in two minutes
Open a simple note (phone, paper, whatever works) and brain-dump everything that's competing for attention today. Emails to answer, calls to make, reports to finish, meetings to prep for.
Don't organise yet—just capture. Include that thing you've been putting off, the favour someone asked for, the admin task that's been nagging you. Get it all out of your head and onto the list.
This step alone reduces anxiety. Your brain stops trying to remember everything and can focus on deciding what matters.
Impact check: who's affected and by when?
Now the magic question for each item: If this doesn't happen today, who gets hurt and how? Real people, real consequences, not hypothetical stress.
Client presentation slides for tomorrow's meeting? Real deadline, real impact. Updating your LinkedIn profile? Important for your career, not urgent for today.
Mark anything that affects other people or has a genuine deadline as Q1 (urgent and important). Everything else that's meaningful but flexible goes in Q2 (important, not urgent). Tasks that feel pressing but don't really matter land in Q3 or Q4.
Most days, you should have 2-3 items in Q1 max. If everything feels urgent, you're probably getting caught up in false urgency or taking on too much.
Schedule Q2, timebox Q1, park the rest
Here's where most people mess up: they focus only on urgent tasks and wonder why they're always behind. The secret is protecting time for important-but-not-urgent work.
Block calendar time for your Q2 items first. That strategic project, important conversation, or skill development session. If you don't schedule it, urgent tasks will eat it alive.
Timebox your Q1 items with realistic estimates. Most tasks take longer than you think, so add a buffer. Better to underpromise and finish early than stress about running late.
Everything else? Park it. Either defer to specific future dates, delegate to appropriate people, or acknowledge it's not actually necessary right now. This isn't procrastination—it's prioritisation.
Working from home can affect stress levels and lead to burnout [Source: Productivity Commission]. This daily triage ritual helps maintain boundaries between work and personal time, especially important in hybrid arrangements.
Turn it into action with the AI decision wheel
Sometimes your brain needs a circuit breaker. When everything feels equally urgent and you're stuck in analysis paralysis, the AI decision wheel cuts through the noise and commits you to action.
The beauty is in the commitment. Instead of endlessly weighing options or second-guessing yourself, you input your tasks and let the wheel choose. It forces you to trust the process and move forward.
Example task list to paste and spin
Here's what a realistic day might look like in the wheel: 'Answer Sarah's budget question, prep for 2pm stakeholder call, review contract draft, update project timeline, respond to client email, finish monthly report, book team meeting, follow up on outstanding invoices.'
Paste that list into the urgent vs important wheel and watch it categorise each item. The algorithm considers deadlines, impact, and dependencies to suggest which quadrant each task belongs in.
Or use it for simple next-action decisions: when you're stuck choosing between three important tasks, let the wheel pick and commit to that choice for the next hour.
When to trust the wheel vs manual choice
Use the wheel when you're overthinking, when all tasks feel equally important, or when you need to break out of decision fatigue. It's particularly helpful during busy periods when your normal triage process gets overwhelmed.
Stick with manual decisions for genuinely complex strategic choices, anything involving sensitive relationships, or when you have specific context the wheel can't account for.
The goal isn't to replace your judgment—it's to give your brain a break when simple decisions feel hard because you're stressed or overloaded.
Saving a preset for tomorrow
Create a standard wheel with your common tasks and decisions. Things like 'email triage,' 'project work,' 'admin tasks,' 'strategic planning.' Save it as a preset and spin when you need quick clarity on where to focus next.
For meeting decisions, try: 'Accept and block focus time after,' 'Decline politely with reason,' 'Suggest async alternative,' 'Accept but limit to 30 minutes.' Spin when calendar invites are piling up and you're not sure what to prioritise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Skip the second‑guessing
Skip the second‑guessing. Paste your list and get an instant, calm decision on what to do next.
References
Look, separating real urgent from fake urgent isn't rocket science—it just takes a bit of practice and permission to say no to other people's poor planning.
Start with tomorrow's 10-minute triage. Your future self will thank you for protecting focus time instead of chasing every shiny urgent thing.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got 23 calculations running and none of them involve answering emails marked 'ASAP' that could clearly wait until next week.