The Idea of Urgency

The year 2025 has kicked off, and as of the time we post this, we’re already in February. In typical fashion, the start of a new year brings with it the tradition of setting New Year’s resolutions—a fresh start, a chance to become better, it could be:

Health: -Getting into shape, eating healthier, losing weight.

Business: -Resolutions related to career advancement, starting a business, learning new skills, or improving work-life balance.

Personal Development: -Setting goals to read more books, learn a new language, improve time management, or develop better habits.

We sit down, reflect, and promise ourselves that this will be the year we finally stick to our goals. For a while, everything feels possible and for a while, it is. The first few weeks feel amazing. We wake up early, eat better, and chase our goals with purpose. But then—life happens. The excitement fades, motivation dips, and suddenly, skipping one workout turns into skipping a whole week. The budget we carefully planned gets abandoned after one unexpected expense. The dream of reading a book every month? Lost somewhere between work stress and scrolling through social media.

And this is why today we are going to talk about urgency..

The Idea of Urgency

Most ideas or concepts, in isolation, are things people generally understand. Urgency is no different. We’re all familiar with it because it’s an integral part of our daily lives—it’s not just a concept we read about; it’s something we experience constantly.

Think about it:

• At work, our employer demands we complete a project by a strict deadline.

• In school, a lecturer pushes us to submit assignments on time.

• Bills have due dates, forcing us to pay before penalties kick in.

• Even traffic lights dictate urgency—green means go, and if you hesitate, you’ll hear honking behind you.

So yes, we understand urgency. We live it. But here’s where it gets interesting—urgency on its own is just a reaction to external pressure. It’s something we comply with because there’s a consequence if we don’t. But what happens when we take this isolated idea, add the right context, and apply the right reasoning? That’s when urgency transforms into a superpower.

This shift happens when we start asking ourselves why.

• Why do I feel like I need to get in shape, eat healthier or lose weight?

• Why do I need to start a business or learn a new skill?

• Why need to need books or learn a new language?

In the examples we mentioned earlier—work deadlines, school assignments, paying bills—there’s a clear incentive behind the urgency. We push ourselves to complete work on time because our salary depends on it. We rush to pay bills because we don’t want penalties or service disruptions.

In other words, urgency follows reason. Without a compelling reason, there is no urgency. And this is where most people get stuck when it comes to their personal goals.

We’ll often say we want to change, improve, or grow, but unless we attach urgency to those desires—unless we create a strong enough reason—we remain in a state of wishful thinking rather than execution.

We Need a Why!

The most honest way to find your why is through deep self-reflection—real soul-searching. In a world filled with constant noise, distractions, and outside influences, taking the time to sit with your thoughts is rare but necessary.

Too often, we look outward for answers. We scroll through social media, consume endless content, and study the lives of successful people, hoping to find inspiration. But more often than not, this leads to what I call a borrowed why—a motivation that isn’t truly ours, just something we’ve adopted from someone else’s vision. And because it doesn’t come from within, it rarely sustains us when things get tough.

Even some of the most successful people in the world understand the power of deep reflection. Take Bill Gates, for example—he dedicates time to what he calls Think Week, where he completely isolates himself from the noise of the world to review, reflect, and realign his goals. He steps away from the chaos to ensure that every move he makes is rooted in clarity and purpose.

Your why isn’t something you find in a book or a podcast—it’s something you discover in silence, in moments of stillness, when you’re completely honest with yourself. When you take the time to reflect, ask yourself the hard questions, and strip away all external expectations, you’ll uncover the one thing that drives true urgency.

And once you find that—everything else falls into place.

Warm Regards

Lefa Gabonthone