Today I want to talk to you about this phenomenon called the ‘Urgency Culture’. It’s a notion among a large number of people that they must always be doing something to feel worthwhile or content. A belief that we must always be hustling to achieve our personal goals and be available 24/7 for work, family, and friends.
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. What happens is that it blurs the ability to identify what is truly needed at the moment versus what can wait or be delegated or attended to later.
Today, in this increasingly fast-paced and hyperconnected world that rewards immediacy, urgency culture blurs the line between what is truly important and what is not.
At work, this could involve handling frequent last-minute requests, meeting unrealistic deadlines or workload, and the expectation to be reachable even after hours.
In personal life, it may 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.
The constant rush and the unspoken expectation to always be “on” professionally and personally can create a sense of hyper-vigilance which significantly increases stress and anxiety. And frankly, there is no joy!!!
Over time, urgency culture can also be detrimental to physical health. What we need to do is decide what’s important and what’s urgent. What’s important will undoubtedly vary from person to person, depending on their goals, culture, career, and many other factors, but as a rule of thumb, you can think of urgent tasks as meeting deadlines.
Today social media could be blamed for enabling the urgency culture. Constant updates for followers, the constant need to keep looking at what everyone is doing. Comparisons are inevitable. You see others excelling at careers, travelling the world, getting engaged, married, or forming a family, and suddenly you begin to question yourself, your worth, and your life!!!
While social media can be a space to interact and share creativity, it can also lead us to make distorted comparisons between ourselves and others. Remember that at the end of the day, things are not always as they seem.
Have you felt the pressure of urgency culture? You can ask yourself if thoughts such as “They won’t consider me a good friend if I don’t make plans to see them” or “I’m lazy if I don’t answer this work email right now” have crossed your mind. If so, chances are urgency culture is trying to get a hold of you.
Here are a few ways to overcome urgency culture:
1. Find the truth behind your thoughts
Take the example of feeling like a lazy employee for not answering that email right away. Are you measuring your worthiness as an employee solely on email response time and minimizing the other ways you excel in your job? When you have these recurring thoughts, use the THINK acronym and ask yourself the following:
Is this thought True?
Is this thought Helpful and is it even required?
Is this thought Inspiring?
Is this thought Necessary?
Is this thought kind to Myself?
2. Set Healthy Boundaries
To learn what boundaries you need to set, create a list of your daily habits throughout the week (e.g., social media use, socializing, exercise, work-related correspondence, etc.). This will help you look at how you spend your time so you can reorganize your life to reflect your values and priorities.
The truth is boundaries are necessary to maintain healthy relationships. Without healthy boundaries, resentment builds and leads to conflict and unhappiness. Communicate your boundaries to employers, co-workers, friends, and family with assertiveness and kindness. Separate your personal identity from your identity as an employee, student, partner, or family member. What do you love to do that brings you joy, peace.
Embracing a life of balance is what we need to do. Maybe that needs to be practised more urgently!!!
