Out of all skills we learn during our lifetime (well, hopefully learn) there are skills that are taught in schools and universities and skills that are not taught there. This makes the skills from the second category not just valuable, but absolutely precious — they directly affect how good we are to become in what we do, and, ultimately, in life.

And then there is a skill of acting with a sense of urgency, which stands above most of other skills that are not taught by traditional educational institutions. That's how big it is.

But before I share my thoughts on this charming ability, let's make a step back just to get our terms right and make sure we are on the same page.

(1) There are skills, and there is knowledge. School education and higher education often presume their goal is to transfer knowledge, which leave them inapt to actually teach skills, which is harder, but more valuable to students. Knowing how to say something in Russian is knowledge, but being able to memorise words and learn how use them correctly is a skill. Knowing that a car is operated by steering a wheel and pressing pedals is a knowledge. Being able to drive is a skill.

(2) While transferring knowledge, educational institutions inevitably teach certain skills as well, such as research, time management, ability to push and sit through hard learning sessions, etc. Some are to the better degree, others — not so much. However, in most cases teaching skills is, unfortunately, just a by-product of knowledge transfer, which is not ideal, to say the least.

(2.1) Why do I think so? Because acquiring knowledge is a rather straightforward process, and with the right skills it becomes even easier. Learning skills, however, requires a different approach and circumstances for each different skill.

(3) Among skills that are hardly (if ever) taught at schools and universities are: people management, negotiation skills, motivation management, prioritisation, ability to concentrate, etc.

Now to the reason I am writing this email: a sense of urgency. I believe there are some skills that help us to not only do right things in the right order better, but also become better at acquiring other types of knowledge and skills, and having the right amount of sense of urgency is a paramount one.

Sense of urgency is when you act right after you decided you need to act. You don't ruminate endlessly, you don't postpone, you don't reschedule it for tomorrow — you act as soon as humanly possible as long as you, of course, has done necessary preparations and made a decision.

This approach allows you to quickly test your decision, assess the outcome, gather the feedback, and reiterate. Try once again. Or continue pushing for the further results. And what is even more important — be FAST. Because time, after all, is the most precious thing we have, and because... memento mori. A Caesar may be young and full of dreams, but you never know what happens tomorrow.

Teams and individuals with the healthy amount of sense of urgency win each time over those who don't have it. Seen it countless of times.

~Mark
Web: mmarchenko.cargo.site