One of the major revolutions in thought that has taken place in the world of work in the past few years is the idea that you must justify your position anew every day.
It used to be that a person would work hard for a few years until he had achieved a certain level in his job. He could then coast along at that level for many years, if not for the rest of his career. His attitude was, "well, I've paid my dues. I earned my position. I did a great job. Now I am entitled to this job indefinitely."
But this is no longer good enough. Today, everybody wants to know, "what have you accomplished lately?" In the fast-moving, highly competitive business world of today, your boss wants to know what you have done to add value recently. You have already been paid for what you did last year, last month, even last week. Now you must earn and justify your paycheck anew. There is a race on and you are in it, whether you know it or not.
TWO SOURCES TO ADD VALUE
There are two major sources of value in the world of work today. The fist is time and the second is knowledge. Today, time is the currency of modern business. Everyone must be focused on reducing the amount of time that it takes to get the same results.
Customers will pay dearly for anyone who can reduce the time needed to get them the products and services they want. People will pay more for someone who can satisfy their needs faster than someone else. This is why most of the major improvements in modern management are those that reduce the amount of time that it takes to get the job done.
The most important measure of time is speed. The most important quality that you can develop with regard to time is a "sense of urgency." This is the habit of moving fast when opportunity presents itself to you. Develop a bias for action. Fast tempo is essential to success. All successful people do not only work hard, hard, hard, but they work fast, fast, fast!
