Coaching practices for I Keep Telling Myself I'll Make Time for This Kind of Thing When Things Calm Down and They Never Do Anything Just for Me Has No Deadline and No One Waiting So it Always Loses to Whatever's More Urgent
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For I Keep Telling Myself I'll Make Time for This Kind of Thing When Things Calm Down and They Never Do Anything Just for Me Has No Deadline and No One Waiting So it Always Loses to Whatever's More Urgent, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- The things with no deadline
- I keep telling myself I’ll make time for this kind of thing "when things calm down," and they never do
- The things with no deadline
- There are a handful of things I’ve been telling myself "someday" about for years
- If something has a deadline it instantly feels important to me, so I chase whatever’s ticking loudest and only later realize I poured my day into a small thing while the work that actually mattered sat untouched.
Practices that may help
- Quadrant 2: schedule it
Important but not urgent — the high-value work that gets crowded out — gets a protected slot.
The Eisenhower Matrix, Made Practical - Schedule and protect the date like a professional appointment
The artist date is skipped whenever it is optional — scheduling it as a fixed commitment is what makes it happen.
The Artist Date, Made Practical - Invest at least 20% of work time in Quadrant II
Reserve meaningful time each week for activities that are important but not yet urgent.
Big Rocks First - Identify your unstarted Quadrant 2 projects
Name the important-but-not-urgent things you keep meaning to start — they represent your real priorities.
The Eisenhower Life Audit - Sort by urgent vs important
Ask two separate questions of every task: does it matter, and does it need to happen now?
The Eisenhower Matrix, Made Practical - Schedule dedicated deep work blocks
Reserve specific, protected blocks of time on your calendar for distraction-free focus.
Deep Work, Made Practical - Protect Q2 time with scheduled blocks
Schedule your most important non-urgent work in your calendar before the week begins — treat it as an appointment.
The Eisenhower Matrix and Delegation - Treat your creative work as the highest-priority obligation
Do the most important creative work first, before any obligation that feels more pressing.
The War of Art, Made Practical - Pay yourself first — with time
Take time for what matters off the top, before the day’s demands consume it.
Four Thousand Weeks, Made Practical - Separate urgent from important with a dedicated triage window
Give urgent-but-not-important items a contained window so they stop hijacking your Focus List time.
Warren Buffett’s Two-List Strategy
Related concerns
- How To Make Time For Important Work
Block time for the Highlight first, so it isn’t left to leftover scraps of the day.
Make time before the day fills
- Important Not Urgent Tasks
Urgent but not important tasks are the most dangerous time drain — build a system for handling them without your attention.
Delegate or minimize Quadrant III systematically
- When Deep Work Schedule Deep Work Blocks
Reserve specific, protected blocks of time on your calendar for distraction-free focus.
Schedule dedicated deep work blocks
- When Eisenhower Matrix Quadrant Two Schedule
Important but not urgent — the high-value work that gets crowded out — gets a protected slot.
Quadrant 2: schedule it
- When The Eisenhower Delegation Protect Quadrant Two
Schedule your most important non-urgent work in your calendar before the week begins — treat it as an appointment.
Protect Q2 time with scheduled blocks
- When The War Of Art Do The Work Hierarchically
Do the most important creative work first, before any obligation that feels more pressing.
Treat your creative work as the highest-priority obligation
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