One of my pet peeves is how and the frequency with which people use the word urgent.  Nothing in this life is urgent bar someone being in danger or at risk of seriously harming themselves or another person.  I am wondering why we have this addiction to citing non-urgent things as urgent and thriving on self-imposed pressure and being busy?

Imagine if we all calmed down (just a little bit) we would achieve so much; perspective, a sense of calm, patience, access to more time.  We would keep our heads and make more considered decisions.  Huge benefits in my book.  Urgent is not a word I use possibly because it is simply untrue and creates nothing but panic.

I see urgent being used all over social media.  “I am urgently looking for someone who can do XYZ for my client” OR “I urgently need a quote on ABC at my house”.  No you don’t!  If you had planned properly none of this would be urgent.  Adding the word urgent risks increasing the cost of the service and reducing the quality cos everyone is in a panic so they can experience the relief or satisfaction of the job being done.

I recall years ago when I worked in publishing.  I had a client who would use the word in every single email.  It made me worry for her personal well-being!  In fact her line manager looked like she was on the edge.  A prime example of how we fuel this in each other and create a negative experience for everybody internally and externally.  Furthermore, if everything is urgent no one is going to take you seriously cos is smacks of you not thinking ahead and ultimately not doing your job properly.

I encourage you to become more aware of when and how you use the word and start to notice what happens when you drop it entirely from your vocabulary.