Across the room from me, in my office, there is a white board with various quotes and catch phrases on it. The one at the very top says Fight for Seconds. I don’t recall where I heard it first and I can’t find it on the internet so heck maybe I said it /shrug probably not but the reality is I say the phrase a lot. Just recently in a speech I gave at a luncheon organized by the Fresno chapter of the Young Professionals Network. The idea is this – we all have the same amount of time each and every single day.
24 hours = 1440 minutes
It’s how we choose to spend those minutes that matter (thank you by the way for spending a couple of them here reading my post). Do you poke around Facebook for 30 of them, then chat with a friend on the phone for another 20? How many do you spend walking or praying or actually working? One of the exercises I do with agents I coach is to have them keep track of everything they do for one solid week. It’s a daunting task for most but often a very rewarding one. Everyone that actually takes the time to really track each minute of their day is shocked over how many were wasted doing something that didn’t matter in their lives. If you knew you only had 60 minutes to make 10 phone calls or only 30 minutes to prepare for a test, you would likely work at a faster pace than if I told you that you had all day to do the same things. That is fighting for seconds – that is having a sense of urgency. LeBron James, Bob Iger, Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffett, Phil Mickelson, Bill Gates – they all have had the same amount of minuets in a day that you and I have been given.
Want to have more family time? Want to have more success at your job or school? Fight for seconds! Have a sense of urgency, focus on those things that really matter and forget the rest.
In case you were wondering, I fought for mine here and wrote this in 20. Have an amazing week!
I love where I live, and I also love what I do. I'm lucky to be able to work in a profession in which I get to build relationships; one that has me meeting new people each and every day and helping them to build new lives in my beloved city. I'm lucky enough to work in a profession in which I can marry cutting-edge technologies and marketing techniques to good, old-fashioned, nose-to-the-grindstone work. I am lucky enough to work in a profession that allows me to work as an advocate for my clients; to use every tool at my disposal to get a job done well for them, and with as little stress and expense as possible.
I love my city. I love my job. One inspires my excellence for the other.
Fresno? I say FresYES
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