The key to developing a sense of urgency is to have SMART goals and good time management. During the remainder of this post, I will cover a very simplified urgency plan.

Creating a sense of urgency (A plan)

Creating a sense of urgency is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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It was based on personal observations of high school-aged students I have known over the years, including my own kids. 

This post takes things a little further, itemizing the 7 necessary skills a student should master before entering college. 

1. Personal marketing:  Above everything else, the student should know who they are and what they want in life.  If they can honestly determine their Life Mission & Vision they might be able to develop and direct their career down a path that is in alignment with their true wishes, rather than pursuing a goal of just making money. Ideally they can find something that fulfills their ambitions and makes money for them, too.

2. Interpersonal skills: Knowing how to relate to others is essential for survival in college and the business world.

3. Writing SMART goals:  Writing goals is good but writing SMART goals is even better.  When a deadline is attached to a goal it becomes more concrete. This acronym spells out why.

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Timely

4. Decision-making skills:

• Identify problem
• Evaluate choices and consequences
• Determine best solution
• Take action
• Evaluate outcome

5. Presentation skills: Being able to communicate an idea publicly and effectively is a skill every college student should be prepared for.

6. Organizational skills:  Putting information, ideas, schedules and even your living environment in good order is a great asset.

7. Leadership skills: You have a great advantage if you can manage human resources, possess vision and have a knack for influencing and motivating others.

7 necessary skills a student should master before entering college is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Stop the Negative Talk (Thoughts):

• I’ve never done it before.
• It won’t be good enough.
• I’m not good enough.
• I can’t do it.
• I’ll probably fail.
• I’m going to fail.
• What if I make a mistake?
• What if I fail?
• Why do I even bother?

Ask yourself:

• What will happen if I am successful?
• What is the worst thing that can happen?
• What am I afraid of?
• Is this FEAR real or imagined?
  • If the FEAR is REAL
    • What must I do minimize the risk?
    • Can I prepare for the challenge?
  • If the FEAR is NOT REAL
    • Why am I afraid?
    • Is there an emotion tied to my past that’s associated with my FEAR?

Start the Positive Talk (Thoughts):

• You CAN do it.
• You will finish this task no matter what.
• You will be successful.
• You have the ability, You must do it.
• Start moving in the direction of success.
• Obstacles are there to challenge me, I will deal with obstacles if they appear.
• I will grow through this experience.
• I will be better because of the challenge.

NO MORE EXCUSES, GET STARTED

Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow.  ~Dan Rather

Acknowledge your FEAR, then Do It Anyway is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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As we take stock of the things we tried and the results that were acheieved or not.   We need to consider how much we stepped out of our comfort zone.  If last year you did not step out of your comfort zone, then this year you need to start doing things differently.

Ways you can step out of your Comfort Zone

• Social Networking
• Commenting on Blogs
• Blogging
• Face to Face networking
• Use the phone
• Informational Interviews
• Public Speaking

Step out of your comfort zone in 2010 is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Success Group Benefits:

• Inspiration
  • Members inspire each other to do better.
• Accountability
  • Members share their weekly goals with each other and hold each other accountable for completing them.
• Encouragement
  • Members encourage each other through their struggles they experience each week.
• Constructive Criticism
  • Members can expect to receive suggestions that will help them improve.
• Safety
  • Members can try out new things without fear of rejection.

Are there other benefits its members receive?

Success group benefits is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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How to get referrals:

• History of completion – projects are completed when you’re involved
• History of success - projects are done on time or ahead of schedule when you’re involved
• Be credible – worthy of belief; trustworthy
• Be excellent – exceed my expectations

When asked for a referral I run through my network list and ask these questions.

Referral questions:

1. Have I worked with this person before?
2. Has this person performed this kind of job before?
3. Did they do an excellent job?
4. Did they complete the job?
5. Did they do it in a reasonable amount of time?
6. Would I have them on my team again?
7. Can I trust this person to uphold my reputation?

If I can answer yes to all these questions, I will refer this person.

Why, would I go through all this trouble to ask these referral questions?

It all boils down to reputation.  A bad referral can weaken a solid reputation.

The next time you ask for a referral or a recommendation, don’t feel bad if they tell you, I’m sorry, but I cannot give you a referral at this time.  Don’t get upset.  Please, respect them for their integrity.  This means that their referral will be respected by others that know them.  Be excited that they said “at this time.”  This means a referral from them could happen in the future if they can answer yes to their list referral questions.  Let that be your motivation to complete that project above and beyond their expectations.  After you have completed the project, you can ask them again, “Now that I have completed this project with you, how about giving me that referral now?”

You never know, that’s all it might take to get that outstanding review you’ve been looking for.

Referrals and Reputations is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What is my Life Vision?
• What is my Life Mission?
• Does my Life Mission fulfill my Life Vision?
• What is my Career Vision?
• What is my Career Mission?
• Does my Career Mission fulfill my Career Vision?

If you couldn’t answer these basic questions, stop right now.  You need a Life Vision.  It tells you who you are and what your values are.  You need a Career Vision.  It tells you and others what you do.  When you have both your Life and Career Visions together you will see where you need to go.  Your mission statements will tell you and others how you plan to achieve your Visions.

If you don’t take the time to find out where you are headed and check against where you should be going, then you can’t say if you’re heading down the right or the wrong path?

The Right Path:

• You have a clear Vision
• You have a clear Mission
• You are actively fulfilling your Mission

A Clear Vision:

• You have a Life Vision
• You have a Career Vision
• You Life and Career Visions are aligned and not in conflict with each other

A Clear Mission:

• Your Life Mission strives to fulfill your Life Vision
• Your Career Mission strives to fulfill your Career Vision
• Your planned actions are always headed toward fulfilling your Life and/or Career Visions.

Do yourself a favor, take bearings on where you are.  Set your course on where you should be and periodically check yourself against the path you have set.  Make minor corrections along the way to ensure your Life & Career Missions become successful.

Am I going down the right path? is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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• Strengths – Preceived strengths you have over your competition
• Weaknesses – Perceived weakneses that your competition doesn’t have
• Opportunities – Potential market opportunities you could have if you address your weaknesses
• Threats – Potential obstacles to your career

The Strengths and Weaknesses are internal things we have identified that might help or hinder your attempts to market yourself to potential employers.

The Opportunities and Threats are external Job market conditions.

During these classes, I do my own personal SWOT analysis just to keep current.  I have discovered there are many opportunities available to me, if I eliminate one of my weaknesses.

How am I going to develop and keep a LASER Focus on the weakness elimination?

 Develop LASER focus on Weakness Elimination:

• Lighten my load – Just say NO to non mission critical tasks
• Accountability Partner - keep checking on your progress
• Schedule your time wisely (Schedule mission critical tasks in the morning)
• Eliminate distraction opportunities (Schedule distractions/time-suckers for later in the day)
• Repeat until done

 Keep on Repeating the LASER focus on your targeted Weaknesses they have been addressed.

LASER Focus is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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Somone gave me Lemons

About 30 minutes before I had to leave, my son came to me and said that my car had been broken into in the middle of the night.  Someone had broken the driver side window and stole my GPS unit.  After a conversation with my neighbor I discovered it happened sometime after 4:20AM.

I do have to admit that I had a little bit of shock and anger related to that incident.  I felt violated that somebody did not respect my property and would break a window to steal something from my car.  This was my first time to experience this.

That kind of changed my plans for the day.  I suddenly had several more things to do; contact my insurance agent, file a police report, get my window replaced, find my proof of purchase for the GPS unit.

At this point I had been given some pretty sour lemons.  What was I going to do?  I had two paths to follow: I could be a victim, dwell on the negative and suffer, or I could let go of the anger and be thankful it was only a Window and my GPS unit and move on with life.  I chose to take the latter path.

Make some Lemonade

So, what do I mean by making lemonade?  Well, lemonade is made with three ingredients: lemons, water and sugar.  I mean take the sour lemons and pour equal amounts of water and sugar on it.  The lemons are your circumstances. The water is forgiveness (letting go of the anger).  The sugar is to find the good in it (learning experience, remembering what you still have).

You are in control

Remember, when external forces affect your life, you are still in control of how you react. You can be a victim (focus on the anger) or you can make lemonade (let go of the anger) and focus on the good things you still have in life.

I’m suddenly thirsty for some lemonade, maybe you are too.  I found this Perfect Lemonade Recipe to make some lemonade with real lemons.

When somone provides you with lemons, make some Lemonade is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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I seem have lists for many occasions:

• grocery items
• daily to do items
• short term to do items
• long term to do items
• wish list

Of course these lists usually grow every day, tasks are forwarded to other lists and some tasks turn into their own more detailed lists.  I’ve even had a foreign exchange student comment, in a good way, about Americans and their lists.  We like to get things done and lists are one tool we use to organize our activities.

Occasionally, I review my lists I have recorded.  It’s pretty amazing to see how many of these tasks have been completed.  One trend I’ve noticed is that when a task is written down, it eventually comes to fruition.  Of course in the past, when I wrote these tasks down, I didn’t put a completion date on them.  So they were things that I would like to be completed sometime in the future.  Napolean Hill would have said they were just dreams.

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” – Napolean Hill

I’ve got a pretty good start, I know I’ve been getting things done.  However, I think Napolean Hill had it right.  Adding deadlines to the dreams will convert the dreams into goals.  The end result will be getting the more important things done.

Till next time,  add deadlines to your dreams

To do lists and dreams verses goals is a post from: Words of Wisdom by MrWes thank you for reading my blog.

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