Urgent!: Strategies to Control Urgency, Reduce Stress and Increase Productivity - Paperback

by Dermot Crowley (Author)

Leverage the power of urgency to avoid burnout and increase performance

Urgency--that frantic feeling that we need to be doing more, and faster--is a destructive force in today's workplace. Unnecessary urgency can be toxic, causing stress and burnout. But not all urgency is bad, and sometimes we really do need to get things done quickly. Too little urgency can lead to inaction and lost productivity. So how do we find the right balance where we can use urgency as a meaningful tool to keep productivity up, without generating burnout? Urgent! is a guide to using urgency for good to help achieve your goals, to drive success, and minimise stress for yourself, your teams, and your business.

This book will teach you to moderate urgency for yourself and those you lead. In our age of fast-paced technology, it's easy to swing between extremes, working reactively one minute, and being inactive the next. The middle ground, described in this book, allows us to work in the "Active Zone" where we maximise proactivity and productivity. By following the practical strategies outlined in this book, readers will learn to understand urgency, become proactive rather than reactive, and lead teams to their fullest potential.

- Eliminate stress and burnout for yourself, your teams, and your businesses

- Learn how to dial urgency up or down, depending on the situation

- Keep teams working in the optimal productive zone by moderating urgency

- Stay focused on what's important and learn prioritisation skills to avoid burnout

If you feel that you and your team are caught up in busy work, stressed to the max by competing demands, leaving no room to focus on what really matters, Urgent! will show you a new way of thinking, leading, and responding. Learn the skills to reduce overload, get more done, and achieve better performance each day.

Back Jacket

When everything is URGENT, nothing is

We all know the problem: our days are full of tight deadlines, incessant emails and distracting interruptions. Urgency is all around us. Yet, without a sense of urgency, we might not get much done. So how do you find the right balance for yourself, your team, and your organisation?

In Urgent!, best-selling author and productivity expert Dermot Crowley reveals how to use urgency as a practical tool to create traction and momentum, and how to tame the unproductive urgency that can derail your day and lead to dangerous levels of anxiety and stress.

Escape the urgency trap and learn how to:

• understand and manage urgency
• distinguish between productive and unproductive urgency
• work more proactively and less reactively
• develop strategies to negotiate, cushion and absorb urgency
• reduce stress and build a more productive team culture.

In today's chronically overloaded business world, Urgent! will show you how to use urgency in a more purposeful, mindful and productive way.

Author Biography

DERMOT CROWLEY is the founder and director of Adapt Productivity, a leading productivity training business based in Sydney. He is also the best-selling author of Smart Work and Smart Teams.