What most people don’t understand about urgency…

Statue Of Liberty In Front Of NY NY On The Vegas Strip

Recently I wrote about why or how “I get so much done” and I just highlighted a few examples of outsourcing my lawn work and snow removal so I can work and “get things done”.

Another big reason or factor is a sense of urgency that I have instilled in myself.  Rarely will I take no for an answer until I really get what I am looking for as fast as I can get it done.  Many people are really happy just “doing things” and successful people are REALLY HAPPY “GETTING THINGS DONE”!   How many times have you had an urgent matter, and an employee or vendor said “I left a message, that’s all I can do” or ”We’re closing in 5 minutes I will find out in the morning for you”.  These are the wrong answers if you are really serious about getting things done.

Let me give you a quick example of this…

I am writing this on an airplane on my way to Las Vegas, but only after my 1st flight was cancelled this morning after driving a ½ hour to the airport in Appleton WI, because I couldn’t get a return flight to Green Bay at the time I wanted next Friday.

I got to the United counter at the airport to be greeted with the news that my flight was cancelled. No text message, No Phone Call, No Email to notify me ahead of time even though I am signed up to receive notifications from them and they knew the flight was cancelled at 9 PM the night before.

Here It Goes…

The baggage handler doubling as the customer service rep was not very interested in getting me to Las Vegas by 11 AM so I could make a 1 PM meeting in Las Vegas.  He rebooked me on a later flight, but told me there was “NO WAY” to get me there on time, even if I drove back to Green Bay.  So I took the rebooked ticket that got me to Las Vegas at 3 PM.  I then got on my cell phone to Delta, and at the same time got in line at Northwest in Appleton.   The line moved fast so I hung up my cell phone and asked if they could get me to Las Vegas out of Milwaukee, Appleton or Green Bay before 11 AM.  She looked puzzled and I was in a hurry, it’s now 5:35 AM.  She finds a flight out of Green Bay to Minneapolis at 6:40 AM, but she doesn’t think I can make that so she booked me on the 8:10 AM flight and connecting to Las Vegas for 12:50 PM…better than 3 PM, but I still wouldn’t make the meeting.  I then rush out the door, ticket in hand and drive back to Green Bay, with a little sweet talk get on the 6:40 AM flight and then get on my cell phone to Northwest to try and get on the 9:15 AM flight to Las Vegas from Minneapolis.  1st attempt was met with a NO and “we can’t do it”.  I looked up another phone number to Northwest on my Blackberry.  This time I was able to confirm a seat on the 9:15 AM Flight and getting to Las Vegas at 10:50 AM leaving me two hours to get to my meeting.

After arriving in Minneapolis I rush over to my gate G16 and ask if there are any 1st class upgrades available and for how much.  I asked this for two reasons: #1 – I wanted to position myself for a luggage transfer (or my luggage would show up a few hours after me. Even if they had no upgrades available I had an opportunity to ask for my next favor.  #2 – On long flights I like the extra space so I can work.  It was my lucky day and there was an upgrade available and the fee not too steep…so I got the upgrade.  Then she happily arranged for a transfer of my luggage, but with no guarantee.  She told me if I got on the plane last, she would let me know if it was on the plane.  As I entered the plane my luggage had not yet made it.  Just before the door closed she ran on the plane handed me a slip and told me my luggage had made it!

Most people would have quit at the point where the baggage handler, errr customer no service guy rebooked them to arrive at 3 PM.  In my world time is $$$ and minutes (not hours) are very valuable.  This incident alone may have generated me a few thousand, possibly much more as this is an important client.  One step at a time urgently I moved forward to Las Vegas!  Let the good times roll and hopefully a few Black Jacks too.