You open your laptop and boom, five Slack pings, three “ASAP” emails, a new urgent request from your boss, and a task you were supposed to finish yesterday. Oh, and that Notion doc blinking in the background? Yeah, that was due too.
Welcome to the chaos zone, where everything feels like a priority — and nothing actually gets done.
So how do you cut through the noise and figure out what to tackle first?
Here’s what I’ve been trying (and still figuring out):
1. Urgent ≠ Important
I’ve started asking: Does this actually move the needle?
If it’s loud but doesn’t create real impact, it might be noise. Urgency is emotional — importance is strategic.
2. Who’s screaming, and why?
Sometimes it’s not about the task — it’s about who is asking.
Is it a client deadline? A team blocker? Or just someone panicking without all the info? Understanding context helps sort true urgency from reactive chaos.
3. Rank by impact + deadline
I try to rate each task with two scores:
- Impact (1–5): How much it matters
- Urgency (1–5): How soon it’s needed
Then I start with anything that’s a 5/5. The rest waits.
4. Communicate, a lot
Letting your team or manager know what you’re working on helps align expectations. Most people are more flexible than we assume — as long as they’re in the loop.
5. Protect some deep focus time
Even in fire-fighting mode, I try to block at least an hour to actually think and do meaningful work. Otherwise, I just end up doing half-finished things all day and feeling stressed about it.
That’s my messy-but-honest take.
How do you deal when everything feels equally urgent?
Any tricks for managing chaos without burning out?
Let’s swap survival tips.