Highly productive people seem to possess a common trait. A sense of urgency. This trait makes the difference between an average and a superior performer.
A sense of urgency drives us to work much harder than normal. It makes us work as if our lives depend on it. When dealing with the challenges of management urgency can be an important ingredient for success or lack of urgency can doom companies to fail.
Thomas Friedman talked about this in his book The World is Flat. He called it coefficient of flatness: the fewer natural resources a company has, the more it will dig inside itself for innovations to survive. It’s the sense of urgency that makes companies survive, and the same principle applies to individuals.
▪ In the book The Road Ahead, Bill Gates said that a secret to Microsoft success is they always think of themselves to be in the losing side, and this makes them strive to be number one every day. This attitude creates a sense of urgency which makes them work hard to survive in the highly competitive environment of IT industry.
▪ Many employees suddenly get a “boost in productivity” a few days before their major tasks are due. Again, a sense of urgency is at play. A sense of urgency is like magic. A touch of it can transform a person or a company to be highly productive.
Is comfort the enemy?
Once someone is trapped in the comfort zone, he loses the sense of urgency. There is minimal reason for him to work hard and excel. Why “do today what can be left for tomorrow?” This leads to the trap of mediocrity. This also explains why many people do not grow, or grow only slowly, in their professional career.
So, the lesson is “to be highly productive, we should introduce a sense of urgency into our lives.”
Donald Latumahina, founder of Life Optimizer, has provided the following guidance on developing urgency in your life:
1. Set a challenging goal with a deadline
A challenging goal creates a sense of urgency that inspires us to work harder to achieve it. A good example is John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing people on the moon before the end of the decade. The goal was challenging, and it had a clear deadline. That goal inspired a whole generation of scientist to emerge and boost the productivity of the space program to a whole new level.
You can set a challenging goal for yourself. Maybe you want to reach a certain level of income or write a book. Whatever it is, your goal should be specific so that you know for sure whether or not you have accomplished it. Besides, your goal should have a clear deadline.
There is one thing to note: if your goal is challenging, you should give yourself enough time to achieve it. The goal of landing man on the moon was set in 1961 and achieved in 1969 – an eight-year time span. Without giving yourself enough time, your subconscious mind will reject your goal as impossible and you will only see failure.
2. Set a challenging deadline for a goal
In the previous tip, the goal is challenging, but the deadline is normal (that is, there is enough time for you to achieve the goal). You can also do it the other way: the goal is normal, but the deadline is challenging. Since we usually deal with normal goals in our daily life, this trick can be used on many occasions.
Suppose you have to write an article. That’s a normal goal – there’s nothing too big or challenging about it. But you can create a sense of urgency by setting a challenging deadline. This way you will be motivated to work harder and be more productive.
3. Set a minimum time to work on something
Deadlines give you a sense of urgency by setting a maximum amount of time to finish something. But sometimes it’s difficult to even get started. The task feels uncomfortable, and we try to avoid it.
In such case, we can create a sense of urgency in a different way: by setting a minimum amount of time to work on it. Before the time is up, you may not stop working. This way, there is pressure to keep yourself going until you meet the minimum time limit, and you trick yourself to start working on an uncomfortable task.
4. Make yourself accountable
Another way to give yourself a sense of urgency is by telling other people about your goal. By letting them know about your goal, you will feel the pressure to achieve it and meet their expectations. This is one reason why I like to share my goals and visions with the people I meet. They help me stay motivated and on track.
5. See yourself to be in the losing side
This attitude is important to avoid comfort zone. If we feel that we are already winning, there’s a danger that we will feel comfortable and slow down. Look around and find someone who is better than you in an area. Then put yourself on the losing side. This creates a sense of urgency to keep the momentum going.
6. Be aware of potential danger
One reason we have no sense of urgency is we are not aware of the danger that is threatening us. If we can’t even feel the danger, how can we feel the urgency? Widen your perspective and see what’s going on in this world along with its potential danger.
Choose the tips that work best for you. You might also have other ideas on developing a sense of urgency. Whatever they are, the important thing is to remember is that introducing a sense of urgency into your life will help you achieve great things.