Perhaps my findings are not the only solution, but with all my heart I believe that the fires of greatness in our hearts can be kept aglow only after we develop a sense of urgency and importance about what we are doing. I mean a sense of urgency to the extent that we feel it is a matter of life and death, and it really is a matter of life and death in some sense, for in growing we are alive and in quitting we are dying. If you don't believe this, talk to anyone who has lost the sense of urgency about getting things done and has been drifting in complacency, mediocrity, and failure. If you are living without a sense of urgency about your work, you know what I’m talking about.
A sense of urgency is that feeling that lets you know that yesterday is gone forever and tomorrow never comes. Today is in your hands. It lets you know that shirking today's tasks will add to wasted yesterdays and postponing today's work will add to tomorrow's burden. The sense of urgency causes you to accomplish what today sets before you. Thank God for the sense of urgency that can change a dull shabby job into a sparkling career. While this may not be the complete solution, I think we can all agree that a sense of urgency will be a tremendous step in the right direction. Right now, ask God to give you a sense of urgency in your work. Believe that He has, and then act accordingly.
To help our sense of urgency help us, let's look at seven ''tremendous'' laws of leadership and follow that up with an examination of two important qualities — discipline and loyalty.
Seven ''Tremendous'' Laws of Leadership
1. Learning to Put Excitement in Your Work
Why is it that some people work and work but never have anything to show for it? And others do less and accomplish more? The secret is learning to put excitement in your work.
If I 'm not learning to get excited about what I don't like, I'll never get much to be excited about that I do like. Everybody looks for ''the right job.'' Sometimes, you'll hear ''I'm looking for a job that fits me.'' I say, ''I hope you get something better than that.'' We need to be learning that no job can make you, but anyone that can put excitement into their work can make a job.
2. Use or Lose
There's a law that says we all have certain attributes, characteristics, and talents. If you use what you have, you'll get more; but if you don't use it, you'll lose it.
One night, as I was coming out of a seminar, a person asked me if I thought it was possible for a person to be excited about a business, be thrilled and successful, and then, three years later, be sick and sorry they ever heard of the business at all? This guy was a perfect example of someone who doesn't know the law of Use or Lose. Once he was in his glory, using all the talents he had. As a result, he was successful. But one morning, because he wasn't using what he had, he began losing it. And one morning he woke up and asked, ''What went wrong? Who let me down?''
The answer is that nobody let him down. Nothing went wrong. Because he wasn't using what he had, he was losing it. And the people who lose it always blame somebody else. Remember, though, that nobody is ever a failure until they blame someone else.
3. Give to Get
Leadership is learning to give whether or not you get anything in return. If you ever give to get something, you're not giving, you're trading. And there's a big difference between giving and trading.
If a person gives whether or not they get anything in return, then they are learning to give. If you give whether or not you get anything, you get a greater capacity to give more, whether or not you get anything in return. And out of this begins to develop a reservoir of reserve and readiness that becomes a tremendous asset. You can lose your reputation, you can lose your home, you can even lose your family, but you can't lose your capacity to give once you've begun to live this law.
4. Production to Perfection
Some people will say, ''I'm a perfectionist. I believe in doing everything perfectly, and if I can't do it perfectly, I won't do it.'' That's the person who never does anything.
There's a law that says if you're not learning to make something happen today, you'll never know anything more than your own whimsical, shallow dreams. Production will teach you a little about perfection, but perfection will never be more than your own fantasy.
5. Exposure to Experience
In the beginning of life, God gives everybody an imaginary keyring. Every time a person exposes himself or herself to another situation, he or she gets another key of experience for the keyring. Soon, the keyring begins to fill with thousands and millions of keys of experience.
As a person gets exposure and experience, they get to use the same keys over and over again. The law of exposure to experience gets better over the years. Finally, a person gets to know which keys unlock which doors, while the inexperienced don't know if they even have the right key. All they can do is fumble around and hope to add another key of experience to their keyring.
6. Flexible Planning
This is the age of the planner. Everybody's planning, planning, and planning. Don't ever tell anyone, though, that planning will do it. I believe you have to have a plan to exist, but the real law is not planning, it's flexible planning. The law of flexible planning says, ''Plan on it going wrong.'' Now, you might say, what if it goes right? Well, we will just have to work it in. Growing is learning that nothing ever goes wrong except to make you more right.
7. Motivated to Motivating
Which would you rather be: a miserable motivator or a happy, motivated flop? I would rather be a happy, motivated flop, because if I can be motivated long enough, I'll get to be motivating, and if I can be motivated long enough, I'll eventually become a motivator. And I'll get to enjoy what I get. That's not the case with the person who has learned to motivate everybody but themselves. Our problem isn't motivating them, but keeping them from de-motivating me. The motivation will flow when you are totally committed and involved.
Discipline and Loyalty
We live in a world where these two great words — discipline and loyalty — are becoming meaningless. Does this mean that they are worthless? On the contrary, they are becoming priceless qualities because they are so hard to develop these days in the first place. And should you be one of the fortunate few who by God's grace have caught the vision, your battle has just begun because the greatest battle is to keep what you've learned through these two priceless qualities.
Most people think, meanwhile, that loyalty is to a thing or to a person when actually it is really to one's own self. Some think that it is directed towards a goal or an objective, but again, it is really about being true to one's own convictions. If loyalty has to be earned, then it is deserved and is hardly more than devoted emotion based on a temporary feeling. No, loyalty is the character of a person who has given himself to the task before him, and that person will always realize that out of a loyal heart will spring all the other virtues that make a life one of depth and growth.
About the Author
Charlie ''Tremendous'' Jones is an author, publisher, and humorist. He is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame and president of ExecutiveBooks.com. His book, Life is Tremendous, has been translated in 12 languages and has sold 3,000,000 copies. He is featured in the Ken Blanchard series Leadership by the Book and the new movie Pass It On. For more information, email him at Tremendous@ExecutiveBooks.com or call 717-691-0400.
