When Everything Feels Urgent at Work — 3 Shifts to Lead More Intentionally

Recently, I met with a leader who said she wasn’t making any time for a deep work project she was genuinely excited about. 

“I don’t know why I’m not making the time,” she said, “but I seem to be focusing instead on all of the smaller tasks that actually drain me.” She concluded that the constant barrage of work was keeping her from the work she cared about most.

Having worked in the mission-driven sector for more than three decades, I know this pattern well. Many of the leaders I coach describe operating in a perpetual state of responding rather than deliberately leading.

They’re putting out fires.Working through deadlines.Sitting in far too many meetings.

The feeling? They are perpetually behind.

The problem isn’t that everything is truly urgent. But the incoming demands for our time can feel constant. Slack messages and emails create a steady stream of micro-demands. The day begins with too many priorities. And many workplace cultures reward speed more than judgment.

Leaders often report a complete lack of time to do deep work—time to plan, think, reflect on priorities, and move important work forward.

Instead, they operate in workdays full of interruptions.

Sometimes others interrupt us.

Sometimes we interrupt ourselves—checking email, glancing at Slack, or picking up our phones.

And interruptions are not harmless.

Research shows that interruptions are one of the most common workplace stressors. Information workers spend more than  two hours per day  dealing with interruptions. Once distracted, it can take nearly 30 minutes  to fully refocus on the original task.

The result is what researchers call “distraction chains”—a cycle of partial attention where we bounce between tasks before ever fully returning to the work that matters.

The consequence? Leaders end up operating in a state of partial attention—scanning for the next request rather than focusing on the work that actually moves their organizations forward.

When everything feels urgent, leaders stop leading their work and start chasing it.

And over time, urgency and interruptions create real costs:

• Leaders lose strategic focus

• Teams become reactive rather than intentional

• Work quality declines

• Burnout rises

• The loudest request gets attention instead of the most important work

What Leaders Actually Need to Do

Let’s be honest: it is often difficult—maybe impossible—to slow the pace of deadlines, crises, and responsibilities hurled at leaders. The culture of many mission-driven organizations is relentless.

But there are shifts leaders can make.

High-performing leaders don’t simply manage more work. They manage attention, priorities, and energy.

Here are three shifts that can help.

1. Pre-bake priorities before the tsunami of reactive work

Before a week—or even a day—begins, leaders need clarity on their top priorities. When priorities are defined in advance, the brain is less likely to treat every incoming request as equally urgent. Instead of reacting to everything, leaders begin choosing what truly deserves attention.

Here are some practical tactics:

• Pause before responding to requests

• Ask yourself: What actually matters today?

• Identify one or two priorities that must move forward

This small act of intentionality changes the tone of the entire day.

2. Be tenacious about creating windows of focus

Most leaders I coach live in calendars filled with back-to-back meetings. That reality may not change overnight. But there are often windows—an hour here, a couple of hours there—where meaningful work can move forward.

What does that deep work look like?

• Evaluating a team work plan

• Doing deep research for a report

• Writing a proposal for long-term work

• Designing a new initiative

• Thinking through a strategic approach

Before each week begins, leaders should know when their focus windows exist.  If possible, it’s ideal to carve out 2-3 hours of deep work and protect it vigilantly. 

Those blocks of time become essential moments to reground and move key priorities forward.  The challenge is that these precious windows are often the first thing sacrificed.  While not every week allows for perfect focus time, nearly every leader I coach has some degree of autonomy over their calendar.  

Simple guardrails help:

• Define weekly priorities

• Block focused work time

• Reduce constant context switching

I know from personal experience and from coaching many clients that protecting even a few hours of deep work weekly can dramatically shift momentum.

3. Differentiate what is important from what is immediate

Let’s be honest—everything feels urgent. But very few things are truly urgent.

Urgency may be driven by others. “The deadline is next week.”

Urgency may be driven by organizational culture.

Or urgency may be driven by our own discomfort with letting something sit unfinished.

But the question leaders need to ask is simple: Does this need to be immediate? Often, the answer is no.

When I coach leaders who feel overwhelmed, a common theme emerges: they feel unable to move their own agenda forward.

One powerful practice is simply scanning the task list and asking:

• What truly needs attention now?

• What is important but can wait?

Leaders also set the tone for their teams. If leaders react to every request immediately, teams will feel compelled to do the same.

Sometimes leadership looks like saying:

“Let’s take a look at this tomorrow.”

Pausing doesn’t slow progress.It reinforces thoughtful decision-making.

Every minute of the day we are making decisions about how to spend our time. Our autopilot often pushes us toward checking boxes, responding to others’ requests, or putting out fires someone else created.

Intentional leaders interrupt that autopilot.

They pause.They prioritize.They focus.

Because leadership isn’t about doing more work.

It’s about making sure the right work actually gets done.