*Written By Dr Laide Okubena*
It is the last week in the month of March.
But it appears to me that many people have forgotten that they cannot succeed in life without a SENSE OF URGENCY.
Even Our Maker The Almighty God uses this Power of Urgency to even remind us that our time on Earth is Limited and that we should learn how to use it wisely. No Man or Woman will live forever or even be young forever. You will young and become old at a stage , No permanent champion, there will be new cats taking over from the old Champions with time.
We lost 2 Legends in Nigerian Nollywood Mr John Okafor and Yesterday Mr Amechi Munagor who has noticed how the power of urgency was even used by their families on social even to seek support financially for the both of them when they had exhausted their personal limits of financial expenditures, this is a lesson to learn for the wise that , even time on earth is limited and must be used with urgency to achieve a life of meaning , impact to leave a lasting legacy behind.
May their Gentle souls rest in peace and God grant their families bear the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. Amen.
And in this message, I'm going to bottom line the importance of this skill and explain why it must move to the top of your priority list.
The truth is always a great fallback position and when it comes to a sense of urgency, here's the skinny...
An atmosphere of urgency will create an atmosphere of achievement.
This is a rule without an exception.
Have you noticed that the people who make things happen in this world value and share the same sense of urgency?
HIGH ACHIEVERS work best under a self-determined or externally fixed deadline for achieving objectives.
Those who consciously choose not to “sleep at the wheel” realize that regardless of the goal being pursued, they must continually maintain a sense of urgency in order to compete and win.
True greatness is only achieved once we develop a sense of urgency and importance of what we are doing.
I mean a sense of urgency to the extent that we feel getting results and achieving our goals is a matter of life and death.
It’s tragically un-hip to procrastinate for the simple reason that a deadline and strong sense of urgency generates energy toward getting results.
In short, they drive people to perform.
Therefore, purposely put yourself in a position where you have to perform!
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to achieve a goal is to plunge ahead without establishing a high enough sense of urgency in themselves and others.
Communicating urgency is one of the hallmarks of personal and professional leadership.
The Importance Of Deadlines!
In an ideal world, behaviour shouldn’t depend on deadlines.
Behaviour should depend on our values, and one of the values of all high performing people is a sense of urgency.
- Deadlines Represent COMMITMENT.
- Deadlines Enforce
ACCOUNTABILITY.
- Deadlines Create a SENSE OF URGENCY.
A clearly understood deadline, that is shared, agreed upon and committed to is the silver bullet of proactive behavior.
There is nothing quite like a good old fashioned, it’s got to be done by this deadline that gets people off the pot and into the game.
Why You Need a Sense of Urgency
None of us can afford to delay our goals, dreams nor responsibilities any longer. Deadlines create a sense of urgency that helps us get things done.
Open your eyes, look around you and see all of the wonderful things that get accomplished all due to a deadline and corresponding sense of urgency that is either self imposed or other imposed.
- Newspapers and magazines all depend upon deadlines to get printed.
- Federal Express – an entire industry was created to satisfy those with a need for urgent communication.
- Credit card, mortgage, telephone, and power companies use deadlines and penalties to get people to act on time.
-
- The two-minute warning in football challenges coaches and players to make every play and opportunity one of importance.
- The thirty-second shot clock in basketball guarantees that you either shoot or lose possession of the ball.
- Marketers intentionally limit quantity, style, colour and size while using words like Hurry; Act now, and Tomorrow is too late… to convey an urgency to buy.
- All of your appointments to include Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers and even Hairdressers depend upon deadlines and time-frames, all of which causes you to take action.
- Planes, trains and buses all use deadlines to create a sense of action from their customers or Else you miss you bookings or Even Flight.
- Eggs, milk, butter and cheese come with short shelf lives that demand that you use them within a given time frame or lose them forever.
- Church, Mosque services, banking hours and hotel checkout times all use deadlines to create a sense of urgency.
- The government depends on deadlines in order to receive tax monies.
The Moral?
Everything in your world involves the use of deadlines to create commitment, accountability and most importantly a sense of urgency.
It’s time for you to enforce the same principle into your life!
How Do You Create a Sense of Urgency?
Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow infuse a sense of urgency and ignite passion into your activities as well as those around you?
The following are seven ways to create a sense of urgency:
- Recognize the importance of establishing a sense of urgency.
- Select the causes of complacency in your life or business and career.
- Identify the strategies for raising urgency levels.
- Discuss with all parties concerned and create buy-in.
- Take action and stay focused on the prize.
- Monitor progress and adjust where and when necessary.
- Repeat, reinforce and remind yourself and others of the deadline.
-
If you believe that business in general is becoming more competitive, then you must also believe that you need more out of yourself.
And the best way to do that is to create a sense of urgency into all of your goals and plans.
A Closing Thought
The first quarter is coming to a close and your results speak for themselves. if you didn't use a sense of urgency well you would have poor results now or missed a lot of targets and not achieved much of your goals
If you're currently below target or not where you wanted or expected to be at this time of the year...it just might have something to do with your ability to honour deadlines and create sense of urgency in your actions.
Question of the day
What were your wins last in the last few weeks in the month of March?
What are you Grateful for the last few weeks in March?
What lessons did you learn in the last few weeks in March?
How do you intend to use the power of deadlines to finish this week strongly and start another week in the new month of April ?
Thanks for your attention and please enjoy your brand new week.
*Dr Laide Okubena*
Comments
Post a Comment
Your suggestions and questions here: