They Said It’s “Urgent”

The Desert of Arizona
Cloudy 55 Degrees

RE: They said it’s urgent

I was listening to an old recording of Dan Kennedy talk about time management yesterday. If you’ve never heard the recording, you should get it here. It’s three hours that could change your business.

In the recording, he told the story of John Wayne responding to repeated calls from some studio executive. The executive kept calling even though Wayne wasn’t responding. After one of the missed calls, his secretary told him, “Mr. Wayne, he says it’s urgent…”

And here’s how John Wayne replied:

“Next time he calls, ask him who it’s urgent FOR. Me or him…”

There’s no objective definition of urgent. What’s urgent for you isn’t urgent for me.

Make a conscious decision about who is in control of what you do and when in your business. Choose whether you are the source of your action or whether you spend your life reacting to the desires of others.

One path makes you a puppet by your own choosing, the other path allows you to become a powerful force in the world and in the lives of others.

I spent years allowing myself to be driven instead of actually driving. I chose reacting instead of acting. That’s changing, but it’s definitely a process.

In today’s world, taking control of your life and business, making decisions without concern for the opinion of others… these are revolutionary acts.

It also attracts great clients.

Serving our clients is what we’re here to do. But to do it at the expense of your sanity helps no one.

At every point in your business life, if you don’t control your time, someone else gladly will.

Who would you rather put in the driver’s seat of your life and business? You or someone else?

After you answer that, take a look at your situation and see if that’s what you’re actually doing.