The very nature of ‘urgent’ means that it cannot and will not persist.

So if you have a problem that needs solving but you feel too tired to act, make it urgent. Force yourself to take action when you don’t want to. Here are some ways to do that:

1. Make the consequence terrible

If the world explodes if you don’t do 10 push-ups, you’ll probably do some push-ups. Similarly, set yourself a consequence so severe that makes your current excuses pale in comparison. Some ideas for making a task urgent:

• Pay someone a lot of money if you don’t do it
• Have someone slap you if you don’t do it
• Feel ashamed if you don’t do it

Much of this comes from having someone to hold you accountable. It’s important this accountability partner is merciless: the task is either done or it’s not – no exceptions. If it’s not, the punishment is carried out ruthlessly.

Unless you’re high in neuroticism, don’t trust yourself to punish yourself. You run the risk of letting yourself off easy, and then the urgent matter becomes unimportant.

2. Love your work

This is the ideal way to operate. Make your work so enjoyable that it would feel bad to not do it. A day where this task isn’t done is a day wasted in your eyes.

To me, this is writing. A day without journaling is a bad day and so I don’t hesitate when I need to write. I like it enough that it just gets done each day: kind of how we drink when we’re thirsty or eat when hungry. It’d just be weird not to do it.

Maybe we all have something we’d like to do; an idea, a passion, a little firefly at the back of our minds whispering, what if? A force that has been hidden from sight for so long but is still waiting to be acknowledged. If so, one way to pay attention to that light is to force it out into the spotlight until it blinds us.

Make it urgent.