How do I get my sense of urgency back?...

One of my coaching clients asked this question of me yesterday:

“Bernard I have lost my sense of urgency. I used to have it when my company was struggling and we were up against tough competition. But we have gotten beyond that now and I have lost my sense of urgency. I know you are big on this and I want help on how to get it back. What do I do?”

So, this is something a lot of people struggle with. And after hiring people for over 20 years and interacting with thousands of people in life and business I can truly say that only a small % of the population have a real sense of urgency. My guess that it is maybe 1 to 2% at best.

So, how do you get and stay motivated, inspired and urgent?

How do you maintain a sense of urgency all day, every day, every week, every month, every year?!

Here are my best tips that I share with all my coaching clients, all of our staff and any friends or family who want to up their game and improve their life:

1. Write down your personal mission! This is key. Why do you exist? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What is your core purpose in life?
2. Sort out your health! Take care of your body! You only get one! Start treating it like the miracle it is and stop treating it like a junk yard! Stop eating processed food and stop being sedentary! Get moving! 30 mins of intense fitness every day. No excuses. Stop the BS! Excuses sap your life away! Stop drinking alcohol, stop smoking! Become a health maniac and you will reap the rewards! You don’t know what you don’t know! Stop sitting down in front of a screen! GET MOVING! Swap your screen time for walking, running, mowing, gardening, press ups, squats, sit ups, family time, improvement time, learning time etc! Anything but screen time! Screen time is sapping away your life without you even realising it. If you don’t stop now, you will look back in 20 years and wonder where your life went! What have you got to show for that 20 years???
3. Make fitness a high priority. Block out fitness time in your diary as if it were a meeting with a top client. Make sure you do it daily. 7 days per week. At least 3 to 4 days should be intense gym work outs/ body weight and the rest can be a mix of lighter weights, hedge trimming, walking, running, hiking etc. try to include your family as much as poss. Especially on the weekends.
4. Eat clean. Eat whole foods. If you struggle with fruit and veg then make a smoothie every day. This way you can pack in huge amounts of fruit and veg into your diet. Eliminate soft drinks, sugar, alcohol, packet food, processed food, fast food etc. Your mood and energy levels will shoot up! Everything will improve! It is all net gain! You will soon realise that eliminating all these nasty toxic things from your diet is no sacrifice at all. It is all net gain!
5. Use the workout app: Hevy. This is great to plan and record your workouts and keep pushing you to beat your personal records.
6. Plan and do at least 1 mini adventure every weekend with your family. Eg a walk by the river, a mountain climb etc.
7. Read our PBA book: Inspired for life. This has lots of great tips on how to make your life more fun and fulfilling.
8. Life is not a dress rehearsal! It is right now! Every second that goes by is your life! You don’t get to practice! You are on stage now! So up your game! Up your performance! Are you a world class performer? Or are you acting like a dope? Be honest with yourself! Stop kidding yourself. Don’t make excuses! Make changes! You will never get ahead in life if you keep making excuses!
9. The world owes you nothing! You came into this world with nothing and you will leave with nothing! So don’t waste a second on victim hood or blaming others for your circumstances.
10. Set big goals. Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. Use them to light your fire! Think big. There is magic in thinking big. Then act on them. Do at least one thing daily to drive you toward your goal. Stop writing down small goals. Go big and leverage them.
11. Work out the value of your time. Down to the second. Write it down and review it daily.
12. Write down your life goals daily. Most people only do this annually at best and never review them. By writing them down daily you get clarity about what is truly important to you.
13. Plan your day, your week, your month, your year. This is key. This gives you a road map. It gives clarity and certainty. It reduces your stress and worry. It is a path to follow. And if you get knocked off track (which you will) you just get up and get back onto your plan.
14. Write down your personal vision. What do you want your life to look like 1 year from now? 2 years? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
15. Write down your core values. What are 5 to 10 behaviours/values that guide you? Eg: Do more with less. Act with urgency. Pursue great health and fitness. Never ever give up. Etc….
16. What do you want your ideal life to look like? Write it down and review it daily or weekly.
17. What bad or average habits do I need to ditch? Write it down.
18. What new good habits do I need to form? Write them down.
19. What obstacles/barriers are or could hinder my progress? Write them down.
20. Am I a doer or a waffler or a critic? Write it down.
21. Write down the type of person you want to be. And write it in the present tense: I am a high performer. I am a cheerful giver. I love to make people smile and feel happy. I love serving others. I am super fit and healthy. Etc.
22. Review the priorities quadrant daily.
23. Write down 10 gratefuls daily.
24. Banish screen/ device time at least one hour before bed. Studies show that blue light actually shrinks the pineal gland that produces melatonin. Melatonin is your friend! Don’t disrespect it!
25. Banish your phone during family time. Focus 100% on them. Be in the moment.
26. Write down your daily routine and constantly improve it.
27. Become a lean maniac. Improve everything, every day.
28. Banish sloppiness and fall in love with precision. Read or listen to Paul Akers book about this.
29. Give uplifting service to everyone you meet. Make them smile, make them laugh, make them feel good.
30. Be a giver not a taker. This world is full of takers. Takers are selfish and miserable. They are focussed on themselves and their own happiness. Givers are focussed on others and are the happiest people in this world. The more you give, the better you feel.
31. Run don’t walk. God gave you the miracle of 2 legs. Use them properly. Why walk if you can run? Everywhere you go! Will people think you’re crazy? Of course! Does that matter? Of course not! 😊 every time you run, your heart rate goes up and  you get fresh energy and inspiration.
32. Use the habit tracker app: Habitshare, and update it daily. And constantly improve it. Good habits buy you time back!
33. Learn, learn, learn! Become a life long learner. Listen to top quality audio books during your work out, commute, lawn mowing etc. Use the 2 second lean app and listen to all the free books there. Also use an app like Audible and listen to PBAs top 30 list. (ask me for this)
34. Use a PBA diary! These are a game changer. Use the PBA time management tips and system to transform your life, productivity and habits.
35. Be a creator not a consumer. Eg if you use linkedin, don’t waste time scrolling mindlessly. Get on there, create some content, comment purposefully and with intent and get off! Limit your time to 5 to 10 mins per day and make sure you are adding value.
36. If you are feeling down or depressed, get up and move! Go for a run, start slowly then crank it up! Even 10 minutes of this will break you out of your funk. Then when you get back, write down your life goals again. Write out your personal mission. Write down your vision for the future. This technique has never failed to deliver for me and my mentees.
37. If you are feeling stressed, use the same techniques above. An intense workout or run is gold! Or even as many press ups as you can do until failure. Then take a 1 min break then do another set. Do 3 to 4 sets in total.
38. Shower every morning and night. Use this time to do stretches and to reflect on your day/ meditate/ pray etc. Think of all the things you are grateful for and give thanks for them.
39. Have a big glass of water beside your bed for when you wake up. Drink it all when you wake up to re hydrate your body. This is key.
40. Avoid coffee 7 hours before bed time. You need to have great quality sleep!
41. Quality sleep is so underrated. Get to bed by 9pm and get up at 5am. And under no circumstances do you check your phone if you wake in the night! Put your phone on the other side of the room if you don’t have the self control.

To be continued!.....

For more helpful resources go to www.premierbusinessacademy.co.nz