Firefighting @ Work | The great emergency hoax!

In past roles, I spent years as a firefighter — not the hose-and-helmet kind, but the kind who ran toward every “ASAP,” “urgent,” and “quick question” like it was a five-alarm blaze. The truth, I eventually realised, was that 90% of those fires weren’t real. They were just smoke from someone else’s stress.

Those years taught me a valuable lesson: reacting fast isn’t the same as adding value.

True effectiveness comes from knowing which fires are worth fighting — and which are better left to burn out on their own.

And yet, everywhere I look, the firefighting continues. Offices full of good people racing from one “urgent” blaze to the next, juggling pings, emails, and chat messages with buckets of water — exhausted, singed, and wondering why everything always feels like it’s on fire.

The truth is, it’s almost impossible not to feel like a firefighter these days. The modern workplace rewards speed, not sense — and it’s easy to mistake movement for meaning.

Picture this: you’re in your office, your third cup of coffee is almost finished, your to-do list is already stretching into next week, and then a ping: “ASAP please!” You sigh, you drop everything, you go into firefighting mode. Sound familiar? You’re not alone.

Why everything feels urgent in modern workplaces

I’ve been through this with hundreds of “busy” people: senior leaders, mid-managers, and professionals. The consistent pattern? Everyone thinks their item is urgent.

The reason is simple: the modern workplace makes urgency the default.

• Emails, chats, notifications, and calendar invites bombard us. Microsoft's Work Trend Index reports that the average knowledge worker using MS365 receives around 117 emails daily and faces dozens of decision points per hour.

• Everyone’s inbox pings, and everything looks like a fire. That “ASAP” or "Urgent" label becomes the standard.

• We confuse immediacy with importance. Just because something shouts for attention doesn’t mean it moves the needle.

  
  

When I ask people, “What happens if you delay this by 24 hours?” I often get a blank stare. That’s your clue: it probably isn’t truly urgent. Yet we still drop whatever we are doing, and boom — our focus on meaningful work gets derailed again.

Urgency is often just anxiety wearing a clever disguise. The louder it shouts, the more we assume it matters. But true priority rarely yells — it quietly waits for you to pay attention.

Distinguishing true urgency vs. noise

Here’s the tough love: not everything labelled urgent actually is. I’ll share a simple filter I use when working with clients:

• True urgency: “If I don’t act now, someone or something is blocked, revenue or growth is paused, deadline is missed, the company faces a real consequence.”

• False urgency/noise: “Wanted by end of day”, “Let’s hop on a quick call”, “Just a heads-up...” → but if you buried it for a day (or even two) nothing catastrophic happens.

  
  

Researchers at the University of Chicago coined the Mere Urgency Effect: people tend to prioritise urgent tasks over important ones, even when the important task delivers far greater value. In some studies, people chose to complete minor, time-sensitive tasks just to feel productive — even when the payoff was meaningless.

So what’s the damage?

• Your long-term goals (strategic projects, relationship building, prevention) get sidelined.

• You’re always reacting, not proactively shaping the future.

• Your stress and decision-fatigue go up — because you’re in “fire-mode” more than you care to be.

When everything is urgent, nothing is. The word loses meaning — and so does your focus.

The PEP lens: Stephen R. Covey’s Important vs Urgent matrix in action

You may have seen this: the classic four-quadrant matrix that charts tasks by “Urgent vs Important.” Here’s how we bring it into PEP-style coaching:

• Quadrant I (Urgent & Important) – Crises, looming deadlines, fires. Yes, you must deal with these.

• Quadrant II (Not Urgent but Important) – Strategic work: planning, innovation, building relationships — this is where real leverage lives.

• Quadrant III (Urgent but Not Important) – Other people’s urgencies: “Can you jump on this?”, “Just quick request”, constant interruptions.

• Quadrant IV (Neither Urgent nor Important) – Busy-work, distractions, things you know deep down are time-fillers.

In our work, busy leaders often spend a big chunk of their time in Quadrants I and III and very little time in II. And guess where burnout, stagnation, and dissatisfaction live? You got it - I and III.

Here’s a helpful rule of thumb for your week: schedule your Quadrant II work first. Put it in your calendar. Guard it. Because if you don’t, it’ll never happen — it will always be crowded out by “urgent” noise.

The real measure of effectiveness isn’t how fast you react — it’s how deliberately you act.

Final words (because you’ve got a day to run)

If there’s one takeaway I want you to walk away with today, just because something shouts urgent doesn’t mean it deserves your focus. As someone who’s coached busy people through this again and again:

1. Ask when something lands in your inbox: What happens if I wait 4 hours? 24 hours?

2. Mark in your calendar a non-negotiable block for one Quadrant II task this week — no interruptions, no excuses. Focus Time!

3. Practice saying “yes — if this is urgent — but let’s clarify the impact if it isn’t. Will someone truly be blocked or is this simply preferred today?”

4. Notice how your week feels at the end: Did you react all week, or did you create something?

   
   

Let’s reclaim our focus from the tyranny of false urgency. You’re not just busy — you’re capable of being purposeful.

Here’s to a weekend where your true priorities get a little space.

And if someone emails you marked ‘URGENT’ at 4:59 pm on a Friday? Do the most strategic thing you can: close your laptop, smile, and whisper, “That sounds like Monday’s problem.” 

Thank you, and as you have put out enough fires this week - time to hang up the helmet, get ready for a helmet controlled week ahead, and have a great weekend.

Jacqui | Professional Services Manager, PEPworldwide Australia