How Urgency Steals Your Best Energy
7 Sneaky Reasons Urgency Steals Your Energy + The Simple Shifts That Stop It
We just talked about rest as a leadership strategy — and it’s a good one. But here’s the thing no one tells you:
Rest won’t happen if urgency is running your schedule.
If you don’t plan your time, everything urgent will.
There have been seasons when my calendar looked like a game of Tetris played by a caffeinated squirrel, wall-to-wall commitments, barely a sliver to breathe. And there have been seasons when my calendar looked gloriously open… until I realized it wasn’t rest at all. It was reactivity in disguise.
The “Just Empty Enough” Trap
Some people cram their schedule so full they can’t breathe. Others keep it “open” but not because it’s restful.
It’s just empty enough for every loud, last-minute, or “urgent” thing to grab it. That’s not freedom. That’s an all-access pass for other people’s priorities.
And when every hour is up for grabs? You end the day feeling out of control, wondering where the time went, frustrated that nothing that actually mattered got done.
Why We Do This (And How I Know)
I’ve seen it in my clients. I’ve done it myself — often without realizing it until burnout was already setting in. Here’s why urgency sneaks in and steals our energy:
Mistaking Flexibility for Freedom
I used to think keeping my days loose meant I was “free.” In reality, it just meant everyone else’s emergencies had first dibs on my time.Avoiding Commitment
After seasons of overcommitment, I’d swing the other way — keeping my calendar blank to “protect my energy.” The problem? “I’ll decide later” became “I’ll deal with whatever shows up.”The Myth of Being “Go-With-the-Flow”
I love being helpful. But without boundaries, my “flow” was really just me being swept into other people’s priorities while mine sat quietly in the corner.FOMO in Disguise
For years, I kept my time open for “opportunities” — which is how I found myself saying yes to things that looked shiny but pulled me completely off track.Underestimating Mental Load
An unplanned day felt like freedom… until I realized my brain was working harder than ever, constantly scanning for “what’s next” and defaulting to whatever was loudest.Mistaking Activity for Progress
Some of my busiest days were also my least productive — because I was moving other people’s goals forward while my own stayed untouched.Fear of Slowing Down
Stillness can be confronting. If I slowed down, the big questions (and uncomfortable truths) bubbled up. Staying reactive was easier… until it wasn’t.
Why This Hits So Hard
When urgency is in charge, your energy isn’t just drained, it’s scattered. Your best thinking never gets the conditions it needs to thrive.
I’ve been in both extremes:
Overscheduled Jenn — squeezing every drop of energy into commitments, riding the high of being “needed,” until my body shut me down.
Unstructured Jenn — keeping my time wide open, only to realize it filled up with other people’s agendas faster than I could pour coffee.
Neither worked. The sweet spot?
🌱 Enough structure to protect what matters most.
🌱 Enough space to let life happen.
🌱 A clear plan for where your energy goes.
That’s where Creative Adaptive Intelligence (CAI) comes in.
How CAI Helps Break the Urgency Cycle
CAI is the capacity to meet uncertainty with clarity, creativity, and values-driven action. It’s the antidote to urgency — because it helps you lead with intention instead of reaction.
Through the C.A.L.M. Framework, CAI shows up like this:
Clarity: filtering out the noise so urgency doesn’t masquerade as importance.
Adaptability: flexing with discernment, not over-accommodation.
Leadership: aligning decisions with values instead of optics.
Momentum: building rhythms that regenerate energy instead of deplete it.
When you bring CAI into your calendar, urgency stops running the show. You start choosing where your best energy goes — and protecting it.
The Tools That Made It Possible
That’s why I created my ThrivFOCUS tools, not to micromanage every minute, but to protect the hours that matter most so they’re not stolen by urgency.
Even if you never touch another productivity app in your life, you can:
Use the Priority Checklist to decide what actually deserves your time before the noise hits.
Map your Week-at-a-Glance to see overload before it happens and protect space for the important things.
These two simple tools can shift you from reactive to intentional in a week.
Here’s the Truth
Rest won’t happen by accident. Neither will your best work.
Your calendar will fill itself, the question is, with what?
When you bring Creative Adaptive Intelligence into the mix, you compost urgency and cultivate rhythms that last.
That’s not just time management. That’s energy wisdom.
