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.

gement and only doing things that are “cash producing”.  Every one has the same amount of hours in a single day…but it’s what you do with those hours that’s important.

One of the techniques I teach is that you should outsource things and tasks that don’t equal what you think your time is worth.  I value my time at a few hundred bucks an hour.  That means I shouldn’t be doing anything that I can get done for me for less than that.

Here’s an example…I recently hired a person to do my home snow removal (for the winter) and then a person to cut my lawn.   My girlfriend was explaining this to her Mom as LAZY…far from it (just cranked out 13 hours of marketing magic today and it’s now 10:28 pm).  I paid the snow removal and the lawn cutter both $35 bucks each time.  For the summer he is going to charge me 26 mowings @ $35 each or $910 for the summer.  He was here today for about 90 minutes cutting and trimming…while I was working on my business.

While he was doing that I was able to write 4 emails for clients (sent to over 150,000 customers of my clients), 1 email for myself, 4 pages of copy for an upcoming sales letter and send out a fax to 450 potential clients.  Should I have been mowing the lawn?  Of course not…For 2 reasons #1 I hate lawn work and in the winter I hate the cold and the very thought of lifting the snow in 30 below temps sends a shiver down my spine and the biggest reason is that I would have wasted 2 productive hours that WILL return more than $35 my direction.

Are you making this mistake?  Right now many are cutting back on labor and trying to do it themselves…if you’re cutting waste that’s great.  But if your cutting staff so you can watch the cash register, mow the lawn, etc…you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Just think if you took 2 hours a week for the summer and spent it on outside selling instead of lawn mowing or running to Sam’s Club or whatever minimum wage task you are doing. Or 2 hours @ 26 weeks = 52 hours….take a vacation…YOU DESERVE IT!

Happy Mother’s Day Weekend,

Darin Spindler
WOW Marketing

Ps…I just booked a much needed vacation for my birthday starting on May 29 and ending on June 3.

I came across this interesting excerpt from Brian Tracy.  He’s a great author and thought you might enjoy it too.   It’s especially timely with everything that’s happening with our economy right now.

It’s also interesting that Brian didn’t graduate High School (I almost didn’t either).  He’s now a very successful author and speaker.  Success comes from doing something you love, school was definitely not a love of mind, and having discipline and desire to get it done.

Have A Great Day,

Darin

The Power of Discipline
By Brian Tracy
Why are some people more successful than others? Why do some people make more money, live happier lives and accomplish much more in the same number of years than the great majority?

I started out in life with few advantages. I did not graduate from high school. I worked at menial jobs. I had limited education, limited skills and a limited future.

And then I began asking, “Why are some people more successful than others?” This question changed my life.

Over the years, I have read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement. It seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every conceivable way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self-discipline. As Al Tomsik summarized it years ago, “Success is tons of discipline.”

Some years ago, I attended a conference in Washington. It was the lunch break and I was eating at a nearby food fair. The area was crowded and I sat down at the last open table by myself, even though it was a table for four.

A few minutes later, an older gentleman and a younger woman who was his assistant came along carrying trays of food, obviously looking for a place to sit.

With plenty of room at my table, I immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to join me. He was hesitant, but I insisted. Finally, thanking me as he sat down, we began to chat over lunch.

It turned out that his name was Kop Kopmeyer. As it happened, I immediately knew who he was. He was a legend in the field of success and achievement. Kop Kopmeyer had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles that he had derived from more than fifty years of research and study. I had read all four books from cover to cover, more than once.

After we had chatted for awhile, I asked him the question that many people in this situation would ask, “Of all the one thousand success principles that you have discovered, which do you think is the most important?”

He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many times, and replied, without hesitating, “The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, ‘Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.’”

He went on to say, “There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self-discipline, none of them work.”

Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for you, and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.

In the pages ahead I will describe seven areas of your life where the practice of self-discipline will be key to your success. These areas include goals, character, time management, personal health, money, courage and responsibility. It is my hope that you’ll find a few “nuggets” that will help make your dreams come true.