The Importance of Being Important

A story about valuing people and managing your work/life balance

Once upon a time, there was a very ordinary man. Let’s call him Ernie. Ernie worked hard every day. His boss would come to him and say “Ernie! I need you to do this thing for me as a matter of URGENCY. It’s IMPORTANT.” And so Ernie would put in extra hours, extra effort to make sure the IMPORTANT thing got done. Eventually, the number of IMPORTANT things had increased to several a day and Ernie was working endlessly to meet the demand. His health started to suffer. He wasn’t sleeping, he didn’t enjoy his job or his home life anymore. He was constantly tired and grumpy.

One day the boss arrived at Ernie’s desk “Ernie! This task is really IMPORTANT. I need you to prioritise it”.

Ernie looked at the pile of IMPORTANT things on his desk and sighed.

“Sure” he said, “add it to the pile”.

His boss smiled smugly and walked away.

Ernie stared at his screen and thought to himself, “Everything seems to be IMPORTANT except me. Clearly I’m not IMPORTANT even though I do all these IMPORTANT things”.

He made a decision. With one last look at his screen, he switched off the monitor, grabbed the pile of IMPORTANT things from his desk and swept them into the bin.

There was one surefire way to find out what was actually IMPORTANT.

Ernie continued with his day. Slower this time, with more ease and taking regular breaks. Every time someone gave him something IMPORTANT he put it in the bin.

Eventually, his boss arrived at his desk.

“Ernie! What is happening with all the IMPORTANT things?”

Ernie looked at his boss with a guileless smile.

“Well. I thought that if they were really IMPORTANT you’d have given them to someone that you considered to be an IMPORTANT person. I’m very clearly just the person who does as he is told and works far too hard. The IMPORTANT people all have offices and flashy cars and nice suits. So, how IMPORTANT could it be if you only gave it to me, UNIMPORTANT old Ernie?”

He picked up his coat and walked out of the office at exactly 5pm on the dot.

The moral of this story is multifaceted.

Never undervalue the Ernie’s in your workplace.

Don’t work yourself to death for those who do not consider you IMPORTANT.

If something is urgent and IMPORTANT then please make sure that the person handling is recompensed appropriately and is made to feel duly IMPORTANT for doing it.

*Extra lesson. No one really suffered from the IMPORTANT things not getting done before 5 pm. Ernie got home in time to sit in the sun in his garden, eat a home-cooked meal and take a walk before having a decent night’s sleep.

The author

Cate Davies

Cate has been a teacher for 20 years. She has worked internationally and across all key stages in the UK. Her secondary specialism is Performing Arts with a keen interest in PSHE/RSE. Cate is recently married with two cats who keep her busy and an allotment that requires more time than she can give it!