The Importance of Important Things Which are More Important To You Than What is Important to me...

I was at lunch with a colleague in New York City today and I happened to notice that three of the employees of the establishment were behind the bar discussing glassware and bottle placement and that they had a tape measure out to ensure equality of item distribution patterns.

This was very important to them, as they spent quite a bit of time debating and trying new approaches to solving their issue, whatever the root issue actually was.  However, to me and, most likely, everyone else on the planet.  This was not an important issue.  In fact, I would probably guess that no one else really gives a shit about where the Kettle One bottle is in relation to the rocks glasses.  However, to those three, at that moment, this subject was of enough importance to cause them to take action, and it got me thinking about the concept of importance in general.

So, what makes something important?  I mean really?  Well, the simple answer is that we arbitrarily assign an internally ranked value to the accomplishment of some task based on our root motivations at that moment in time.  This is an interesting concept, if one were to deem it important enough to consider for a moment.  What we are doing is, in real-time, prioritizing tasks based on our given motivations, and then establishing an expectation that other people will accept the prioritization that we have applied.  Pretty selfish of us, if you think about it.

In my life, I have a lot of "important" stuff I have to get done that cause me to put off the things that really should be my top priority.  I am a bit saddened to consider the number of times I have told my daughter that I had to take care of some task instead of playing with her, when the task could have been put off for awhile.  Plus, I think Americans, in general, put work way ahead of family on the importance scale.  But thoughts like these are just scratching the surface of the topic, if we look a little deeper, the really scary stuff comes out.

How many times have you said, or heard the phrase, "I don't have time"?

Think about that for a second, then consider this.  Every time you say this or it is said to you, the real message is, "I have heard your request and have decided that my arbitrary list of tasks has a much higher priority than the request you have made of me."

Now, if you are talking about some task at work, this might be not only true, but completely okay to say.  However, if we are discussing interpersonal communications among family or friends, then it is really an insanely selfish thing to say.  I am guilty of this, as is everyone I know.

So, I think we should all consider this the next time we are about to utter, "I don't have time."

Oh yeah, and as to all our important things we do at work, we should also remember that what is important to us is never the same as what is important to others, be they a customer, a vendor, or the guy behind the bar who is wondering why the rocks glasses are too far to the left.  And to those of you who rant and rave about politics and how important the issues are?  Yeah, if it hasn't caused you to take some action, even something as simple as a phone call to a representative, then it really isn't that important to you and I would rather not hear about it.