There is one competitive advantage many business owners and entrepreneurs overlook. That advantage is urgency!!
Those that are the most competitive have it. Great leaders have it. In time of crisis everyone has to have it. It is clear that with high urgency, stuff gets done…lots of stuff!
Think about it. When do most people get the most done? At the beginning of a project or the end? When do most people file their tax returns? Why do going out of business sales work? It’s because most people don’t have a sense of urgency until they are faced with a crisis or a deadline.
Just think what would happen if you operated with that level of urgency and productivity all the time???
I think successful people have a natural sense of urgency to ‘get it done!’ Not everyone has it.
In a recent training program I facilitated, teams were given five days to produce income. In the middle of the program, I gave all the teams two hours to create a new project and generate income in that two-hour time frame. Guess what? Most of them produced more money in those two hours than in the whole five days!!! Why? Because there was urgency.
Creating Urgency
How do you create it, condition it in yourself, get it if you don’t have it? And better yet, how do you get others to get it if they don’t have it?
- Control the environment.
You have to create a space that supports the urgency without abuse. Celebrating wins. Have fun! Create games. - Make it a team effort.
Operate on a team where there is lots of accountability to the group. To condition urgency, peer pressure and peer support are the fastest ways for everyone to get it. Remember it takes more than one to create synergy. - Have a code of honor.
And ensure that the code of honor supports optimal performance. You are going to turn up the heat and you have to be sure that the rules are clear. The rules have to support the behavior that supports the goal, supports the team and prevents people from bailing out. - Set the boundaries.
Don’t give yourself or others a lot of latitude to think or wander. Set the timeframes, the requirements, the rules and even turn your projects into games that you can score. - Make it competitive.
By doing this, it allows everyone to benchmark their progress against others. You are able to see where you stand in the running at all times and know exactly what you need to do to improve. - Set a deadline.
The closer the deadline, the higher the urgency. Set the goal line and make sure that everyone on your team knows it as well. That is why the classic Monday morning sales meeting is so powerful. Everyone has to produce every week because they have to show their results to everyone else..every Monday!! - Repeat and immerse yourself in the process.
Use these criteria in your training, your work and in every project that has importance and meaning to it. If you discipline yourself to operate in this kind of an environment for 12 weeks, you will begin to rekindle that natural sense of urgency that you had as a kid when you set your mind to something. You will be invigorated and get what you want faster.
But here’s the most important point:
…You don’t need a deadline if you have a mission!!!
Those who are truly on a mission, have a natural sense of urgency. They have something they see, feel and are passionate about that they want to manifest. Their frustration lies in the fact that their ideas, vision and expectations move faster than the reality around them. They are therefore always pushing, sometimes impatiently, and always have urgency.
What about you? Do you need an emergency to have urgency or is your mission important enough to push you?
The truth is… the clock is ticking. There is a finite amount of time. I am not advocating being crazy about this, but how do you want to be remembered? If you are going to make your mark with your family, in your community or in the world…when are you going to do it?
How about TODAY?
