Addicted to urgency
It’s referred to as firefighting.
The exhausting exhilaration of handling problems…Now! Now! Now!
Adrenaline-rushed results keep us addicted to urgency.
It’s also what keeps us stuck fixing problems instead of solving them.
When I was young, we had a recurring problem in our yard…
Dandelions.
Every year, my dad handed my brother and I wooden-handled tools with a long metal prong and a stack of grocery bags with orders to, “Get all the roots.”
As we dug up our dandelions one root at a time, I silently envied our neighbor who mowed his down one row at a time.
Even though I didn’t like the work, each Spring I noticed it got easier and we finished faster.
Eventually, our tedious efforts were no longer required…
We had broken the cycle of our problem.
Just over the hedge, our neighbor’s dandelions continued to multiply.
The efficiency I envied in the moment wasn’t effective in the long run.
Perhaps it’s time to stop mowing down your problems and start digging up what’s causing them.
While a fleeting fix might feel good, a slow solution frees you to shift from fighting fires to preventing them.