Urgency culture’ might lead you to burnout. How can you break free?
"When everything is urgent, nothing really is"
In an increasingly fast-paced and hyperconnected world that rewards immediacy, urgency culture blurs the line between what is truly important and what is not.
Sometimes, it can seem like tasks and responsibilities keep coming at you, and you must handle them all right away. You check your phone for messages as soon as you wake up. You answer work emails within minutes, day or night. You feel like you can't ever say no.
What is 'Urgency Culture"?
Urgency culture is the idea that everything is urgent. There is no sense of prioritizing one thing or the other. Instead, you need to be on at all times. It blurs the ability to identify what is truly needed at the moment versus what can wait or be delegated.
What does it look like?
Urgency culture can seep into your work and personal life.
At work, this could involve handling frequent last-minute requests, unrealistic deadlines or workload, and the expectation to be reachable even after hours.
In personal life, manifestations of urgency culture include overextending in relationships, frequently checking social media updates out of fear of missing out, and responding immediately to calls and texts, even when it's inconvenient.
Being part of the "always on" culture often necessitates multitasking.
However, research shows the human brain lacks the neurocognitive architecture to perform two or more tasks simultaneously. So, every time we multitask, it actually slows the brain down and may reduce productivity by up to 40 percent.
Multitasking takes a serious toll on productivity.
Our brains lack the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time-in moments where we think we're multitasking, we're likely just switching quickly from task to task.
What happens when you feel like you're always doing everything?
Your mental health and overall well-being take a hit when you're drowning in urgency culture. You may feel insecure and believe you are doing things wrong because you feel overwhelmed, exhausted or disillusioned.
You may also struggle to prioritize tasks because you never have time to step back and look at everything on your plate. You might develop chronic stress, anxiety, depression and burnout.
Symptoms of False Urgency
Stress levels run high as evidenced by outbursts of frustration or anger and rising health concerns.
There is a pervasive belief in the team that people are always being pushed to the limit in each moment and most days are bad days at work.
Expectations of instant response to emails, no matter how innocuous they may be, with no regard for the time of day or day of week.
Diaries are filled with back-to-back meetings.
Overwhelm and/or apathy is a common response to new goals or duties or challenges.
Counteracting Urgency Culture
To avoid the urgency trap, pause for a few moments before leaping into action every time something comes up. It allows you to step back and assess whether this demand for your attention aligns with your priorities.
Setting clear expectations in personal and professional relationships can also help plan, prioritize, and problem-solve without inducing false urgency.
Setting boundaries and managing expectations can improve focus, reduce stress and anxiety and give you space for work-life balance.
It may feel like every email, notification and task needs your immediate attention.
But urgency culture can lead to overwhelm, stress, anxiety, depression and burnout. It can help to take a step back, prioritise your tasks and set boundaries.
Liberating ourselves from urgency culture requires a fundamental shift in mindset-one that values intentionality over immediacy.
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