You’re the smartest person in the room. You have so many degrees after your name your signature never fits on the dotted line. No one else has more experience. You work tirelessly. Your output is voluminous. You’re broke.
Alright, you’re not broke. But, you’re not rich either. There are guys and gals with half your brains, a quarter of your experience, who work a tenth as hard as you do, who have a thousand times your money. So, what are you missing?
I worked really hard here to get your attention. So, do us both a favor. Turn off your cell phone and for the next several minutes, shut out any distracting thoughts. Go with me here and I will unleash a power within you that will smash the bulletproof glass that has for a lifetime separated you from achieving the wealth you deserve.
Let’s restate the obvious. Something’s missing. It’s intangible or you would have recognized it by now and corrected it yourself. So, here is the challenge we face together. In the next few minutes we need to unmask it. Get you to accept it. Get you to embrace it. Get you to make a not so subtle shift in the way you approach the important things you do. Get you to experience the success of using it so that you enthusiastically take ownership of it. Then it’s yours and heaven help a herd of elephants if they get in your way.
Oh, and did I mention it’s simple. So simple in fact that when I divulge it, I run the risk of a little voice going off inside your head telling you, “Come on. I got better things to do.” So you’re going to hang with me here for few minutes… right? Okay, so here it is…three magic words… Sense of Urgency.
Sense of Urgency, so what’s the big deal? The big deal is that it’s the key difference in the mindset between people of great capability and people of great achievement. It’s the difference between endless process and definitive outcome. It’s the difference between volumes of high quality output and bottom-line, take-it-to-the-bank results.
Let’s look at two practical examples. First go to the DMV to renew your license. Wait in line for 20 or 30 minutes. Belly up to the counter and separate the clerk from their pack of cookies. Wait a little longer while they staple some forms together and put them in the proper bin. Watch each movement the clerk makes. Could molasses possibly flow any slower? The clerk’s day is regimented. Nothing is riding on outcome or results. You have to wait. They get paid the same no matter. So, what’s missing?
Actually two things are missing. Clearly the clerk is missing a Sense of Urgency. Less conspicuously, the clerk is also missing a fat paycheck. Sense of Urgency almost always precedes fat paycheck. Very fat paycheck is always preceded by Sense of Urgency.
For contrast, this brings us to the second example, the floor of the Chicago Commodities Exchange. Tens of thousands of dollars are changing hands over values that shift in microseconds. If the trader is not in someone’s face, with orders in hand, at the instant of exchange, their very livelihood is at stake. Here time matters. Sense of Urgency rules.
In both of these examples, the environment sets the terms. But, what if you’re someone intent on building your own thriving environment?
People of great success, people who create great wealth learn how to artificially create a Sense of Urgency not only within themselves but within everyone upon whom the outcome depends. They set deadlines. Then they play a mind game until they convince themselves that the world will end if the deadline is not met. Then they embed the deadline in steel reinforced concrete. Miss the deadline and you die. Viola…Sense of Urgency is born.
It is important to note the difference in behavior of a person with a Sense of Urgency from a person not so endowed. Powerful subconscious survival instincts kick in, energy levels are accelerated, mental acuity peaks and time itself seems compressed. You are fully focused and engaged in whatever it takes to create the desired outcome by the deadline; the higher the stakes….the higher the Sense of Urgency. It is no wonder that behavioral studies continually confirm that the majority of all project related obstacles are cleared within 48 hours of a completion deadline. The same studies also demonstrate that work tends to expand to fill the time allowed and where no deadline was set, work without definitive results expands continuously.
In a universe of Yin and Yang, the antithesis of Sense of Urgency is complacency; operating from your comfort and safety zones. Complacency is a thief that robs you of your birthright to prosperity and abundance; robs you of fulfillment of your greater self. If you are to have your date with destiny, you have to establish the mark and SET THE DATE. If you are to accomplish anything great, you have to divide the distance into smaller steps EACH WITH A DATE. The steps and the dates must test the limits of your capabilities. You must convince yourself that failure by the deadline is not an option and then embrace the stress. You have the ability. Embrace your destiny with a Sense of Urgency and the world will celebrate your name.
Demonstrate this to yourself and take ownership of your very own Sense of Urgency. Pick just one thing that matters in your life and which has dragged along for some time without resolution. Feel the energy that is continually sapped from your very being by this unresolved issue.
Write your desired outcome and the deadline date on a post-it note. Stick it to your bathroom mirror where it interferes with your ability to shave or apply your makeup. Whenever you lay eyes on it, allow it to remind you of the pain non-resolution has caused. Imagine how good you will feel when the outcome is achieved. Tell someone whose opinion of you matters that you are absolutely committed to achieving this outcome by the deadline. Accept the finality of the deadline date you have set. Embrace the stress of completing the steps required to meet the deadline. You may not yet know all the steps. Worry not; the power derived from your Sense of Urgency will reveal them to you as needed.
Avoid the “Sleeping Deadline Trap.” Objectives need time to be accomplished. But, give your deadlines a short leash. Deadlines set to far in the distance literally put you to sleep and waste valuable time.
Divide yourself into two, one the actor and one the observer. Allow the actor to feel unsafe and even threatened into action. From your place as the observer, notice the difference in the way you the actor perform. Watch the world around you change as your resolution becomes manifest. Marvel at the way forces align in your favor. Know the power that is within you. As you experience the full resolution of this process you will come to know that the real you is the observer and that you are always safe. You will have empowered the actor within you to move mountains.
Pick your issue to resolve. Start the process. Take action. Do it now. Sense of Urgency….RIGHT NOW!
