"We live in an era where extreme responsiveness has become a proxy for competence. We wear our busyness like a badge of honor, confusing the volume of our activity with the value of our impact. However, this addiction to the immediate is not just a time-management issue; it is a priority management issue, and it is seeking instant gratification that actively sabotages our ability to lead. For the high-performing individual contributor transitioning into leadership, this trap is particularly dangerous."
"Our brains are wired to prioritize closure. Research published in the Journal of Consumer Research identifies this phenomenon as the "Mere Urgency Effect." People consistently chose to perform tasks with urgency (e.g., deal with a deadline that is close) over tasks without deadlines, even when the urgent tasks offered a significantly lower payoff. Urgency creates a "goal-gradient" effect; as the deadline approaches, our desire to complete the task intensifies, regardless of the task's actual importance."
Brains are wired to prioritize closure and urgent tasks, causing people to favor quick, low-payoff actions over strategic work. Extreme responsiveness is often mistaken for competence, equating busyness with impact. This urgency-driven behavior—called the Mere Urgency Effect—creates a goal-gradient that intensifies desire to finish imminent deadlines regardless of importance. Habits of speed and reliability that help individual contributors earn promotions can become liabilities for new leaders. Leadership requires prioritizing long-term strategic planning and building team capacity. Seeking instant gratification undermines priority management and reduces a leader’s ability to generate sustained organizational value.
Read at Psychology Today
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