Urgency is a potent force, because it is usually produced by some degree of leverage.  Leverage leads to urgency and urgency leads to action, usually immediate action.

Think about this for a moment.  Imagine the windshield wipers on your car have quit working.  The weather forecast is predicting sunshine with no chance for rain for the next week.  You know you need to get the wipers fixed, but how urgent is it that you get them fixed soon?  Now imagine that your windshield wipers have quit working and a thunderstorm is imminent in the next few hours.  Has the urgency changed?  Of course it has, because the looming storm has created leverage.  If you don’t get your wipers fixed in the next few hours, you will either be without a vehicle or in danger for the duration of the storm.

Here’s another example.  A few years ago I was working in an office building and the fire alarms went off.  I knew that I would have to exit the building, but I assumed it was only a test, so I was not in any hurry to leave.  I checked a few more e-mails and casually left my office.  As I entered the hallway towards the elevator, people were yelling from the other end of the hallway that the building was on fire.  Can you guess how my urgency changed upon learning that news?  I went from a slow, leisurely stroll to a full run for the stairs.  The leverage of possibly dying in a fire created the urgency for me to take immediate action and get out of there fast.

If you can create urgency around your most important goals, then you will find yourself taking instantaneous action.  The reason most people fail in their ability to accomplish their goals is because they never associate the necessary urgency to do so.

One way to create urgency is through the practice of setting dates.  Setting a date can be a very effective means to creating urgency.  Think about a time when you were in school and you had a term paper due or a big test coming.  If you were like me, you probably found yourself working harder the closer you came to the deadline.

A deadline or date for achievement creates that pressure, and it gives you a clear picture of when you expect to accomplish your goal.

Another way to create urgency is to consider the consequences of not accomplishing your goal.  One of my top goals is to have an outstanding relationship with each of my children.  I have created several plans for how to be involved in the lives of my children, but these plans do not have an inherent urgency to them.  Usually our most important goals are not urgent in nature, especially when we do not consider future consequences.  One way that I create urgency around my goals with my children is to imagine how they will turn out as adults if I fail as their father.  This process has produced incredible results for creating urgency in my life.

Urgency is the spark that ignites the fuel of your goals.  Use it to create the necessary action you must take in the process of making your goals reality, and you will be on your way to do great things.