A controlled sense of urgency can determine success or failure in a circumstance. The urgency in which we attack an issue defines the path forward. Urgency is necessary to triumph when the tension of situations rise.
Lack of Urgency
Yesterday, our wrestling team competed in the Georgia High School Association’s Region 7AAAA Duals.
Our Bucs got off to a tough start. We were the sixth seed, facing off against the third seed in the first round. We didn’t wrestle well as a team and ended up losing the dual. The team was sluggish as a whole and we didn’t wrestle with a sense of urgency.
If you aren’t familiar with wrestling, there are two types of tournaments. One, called a traditional or invitational tournament. This is where the wrestlers compete within their weight class, individually. If they do well, they advance. If they don’t perform well, they don’t advance. It’s the only way it works.
As for dual tournaments, those are different. You are competing as a team. It offers the opportunity for you to do your part for the greater good. Unlike traditional formats, you could wrestle well individually, and the team does not advance. You could not wrestle well, and the team advances.
Sense of Urgency
The format was double elimination; therefore, we had to develop a sense of urgency…and quick. We couldn’t lose again and had to come back and place second to advance to the State Tournament.
The next match, our sense of urgency emerged. We wrestled like there was no tomorrow and that every point mattered. We won, we advanced. Next match, same level of urgency, same result.
After back-to-back wins, we had a rare opportunity to wrestle the team again that beat us first. If we won that match, we would have another rare opportunity, to wrestle for a “true second place.” “True second” means that the third place team has an opportunity to challenge the second place team. That was our only opportunity to finish in the top two and go to State.
In life and leadership, there are two ways to confront urgent situations.
Panicked, Rattled, and Frantic
At first, when people mention a sense of urgency, most minds go here. It stirs of the anxiousness to hurry. It’s a natural, but unproductive emotion.
Panicked, rattled, and frantic is an emotional state where poor decisions are made. Our decision-making capabilities become impaired, it’s hard to see through the fog of distraction.
Hurried and irrational decisions can also position us in another unproductive place…Stuck. Frozen, unable to decide at all. As bad as an impulsive decision driven by urgency can be, no decision can be just as detrimental.
In our first match, we displayed both. We had wrestlers panicked, rattled, and frantic, who cost the team valuable points. Then, we had ones who were indecisive and just not moving at all. Neither proved productive and they landed us with a loss.
Calm, Focused, and Controlled
If people generally go to panicked, rattled, and frantic when they hear sense of urgency, then what is the alternative? The alternative is calm, focused, and controlled. You may ask, “But, slowing down is a response to a circumstance that requires a sense of urgency?” The answer…yes.
When we are calm, focused, and controlled it slows a fast situation down. While time passes when we slow things down, we become more efficient in our decision making. We get things right the first time and don’t spend as much wasteful time, consumed in chaos.
I heard Roark Denver once say, “Calm is contagious.” Not only does it improve our performance in a circumstance that demands urgency, it improves the performance of everyone around us. The team starts making quality decisions. When the machine starts running smoothly, we are able to press the accelerator and make up time.
In rounds two, three, and four our boys were calm, focused, and controlled. They met the challenges with a controlled sense of urgency. It was evident in the outcome and they got there quickly.
Conclusion
Well, I wish I had a more storybook ending for you. We didn’t win the true second place match, we aren’t going to the State Dual Tournament. But, the boys wrestled the defending state champs with as much urgency as they could. They walked away knowing they had left it all on the mat.
Sometimes urgency doesn’t produce a win, but it puts us in a position to be competitive. We give ourselves and our team a chance. Sometimes a chance is the glimmer of hope we need in the face of urgency.
We have been urgently working for the last three years to build a quality wrestling program. A few years ago, we would have never even imagined being in a position to compete with a defending state champion. Over the years, we have stayed calm, focused, and controlled through the ups and downs of building a program. It creates determined, sustainable consistency.
Success puts us in these pressure situations. In a chaotic and anxiety-ridden world, we fail to remember that pressure is a privilege. Pressure doesn’t exist for those outside of The Arena, only those as President Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.”
There was a former version of ourselves that desired the very position that introduced pressure to our personal or professional worlds. There is no going back now, it’s what we asked for. Meet the demands of pressure with a sense of urgency. Be calm, be focused, and be controlled.
