Matt S. Law Studios

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Urgent Murders Important

Urgent (adj) compelling or requiring immediate action or attention.
Important (adj) of great significance or consequence.

The most important concept that should be taught to young leaders, corporate execs, and anybody that wants to accomplish anything of significance in their lives is to finish tasks in the order of their importance. The problem is that many people confuse the urgent with the important.

Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”

Urgent things demand our attention immediately, but they may not be important in the overall scheme of our lives. That’s why the really important things, the things that will add value to our lives over the long term can get put off indefinitely; because they are not screaming for our attention.

When making your to-do list, prioritize your tasks according to this standard:

1. Urgent and important
2. Non-urgent but important
3. Urgent and non-important
4. Non-urgent and non-important

Completing your urgent and important tasks first is a no-brainer.

The hardest thing, will be deciding whether to handle the number 2 or the number 3 items first. When something urgent comes hurtling towards you, arms flailing, it will command you to take care of it right now Now NOW! It takes discipline, but before addressing this incredibly urgent and demanding task, ask yourself “is this important?” A question I ask myself is “will this matter five years from now?

If this urgent task that requires your immediate attention is something that can be delegated, rescheduled, or even ignored without causing you long-term harm, then ditch it. Take care of what’s important first.

Then the things that are neither urgent nor important, you work on those when you have absolutely nothing else to do. Watching television goes in that category.

What are some urgent tasks that seem to always pop up in your life?

July 26, 2018
Be The Leader Of Your Own Pack

Leaders are expected to be examples not exceptions. I would rather watch a sermon than listen to a sermon any day. I don’t think that I am unusual, in that I have zero respect for someone that says one thing, but does the opposite.

How often have you heard about people in so-called positions of leadership that don’t think that they have to obey the same rules or laws that the rest of us serfs and peasants need to live by? How much do you respect them?

I know right off the top of your head you may immediately think of wealthy businessmen, politicians, professional athletes and entertainment celebrities. Those that are above the law. The “American Royalty” as it were.

But how about you? You are a leader even if you’re not a CEO, an actor, or a relief pitcher. Do your words match your actions around your children?

We tell them to clean their rooms when our home office is a mess. We tell them to be honest, then they hear us tell a little white lie to someone on the phone. We tell our children we love them more than anything else in the world, then yell at them to be quiet when we are watching television.

“Leadership is influence, no more no less” – John C. Maxwell. You are the number one influence on your own children. So make sure that your words match your actions. In the little things, not just the big things. And in front of the little people, not just the big shots.

If we mess up, if we forfeit our credibility with our children, and lose our place as the main leader and influence in their lives; Then who will they end up following? Probably someone in that American Royalty category that you were blaming a few paragraphs back.

Would you want a rock star to take your place as the main influence in your child’s life?

July 20, 2018
The Past: A Great Place to Visit But I Wouldn’t Want to Live There

I am a firm believer in our ability to change our circumstances in life. Prayer, goal setting, dream building, meditation, focused effort; These are all tools that allow us to determine through our own volition how we live our lives. But, no amount of prayer, goal setting, dream building, meditation or focused effort will allow you to change your past.

We cannot determine our past. It’s too late. It’s happened. But we can determine our future. Starting right this moment, you can make a decision that will affect your future. But trying to live in the past will always hurt you.

Maybe your past was awesome. Glory day after glory day. Each day of your present that you spend reminiscing, doesn’t add any additional glory to those days. If you have one entire year of awesomeness, but ten years later, the only thing you have to talk about is that past awesome year… Well, suddenly you’ll realize that the past wasn’t so awesome now that it’s been spread out over eleven years (I’m pretty sure it can be explained by the physics property of diffusion).

Or perhaps your past was terrible. Constantly dwelling on it out of a sense of guilt will sabotage your present happiness and keep you from recovering from past tragedies.

While you are living your today, which direction are your focusing on? Each day, our thoughts and works are either being invested in our future, or wasted on our past. Each day, concentrate on adding to your future value and worth; because you cannot add to your past value and worth.

Now, I am not advocating memory wipes for everyone. The past does serve a purpose. Your past experiences teach you. It will give you one of two lessons: Do something different next time. Or do more of the same. But you must do.

Live your today,
using your past as a guide,
to benefit your future.

July 17, 2018