“The most important things in life require that you bring your own urgency. Passion is the fuel that brings urgency. Leadership is about bringing urgency to the things that matter most.” – Erwin McManus

“Bringing urgency” is a good way of thinking about “happening to the world.”

Our high school softball team in Bartow has a Hall of Fame coach named Glen Rutenbar. My daughter played for him in high school for four years. When she finished, my wife and I remained active with the program because of its excellence. I’ve been watching the team play for 27 years. Almost half the time, we get to the state championship finals. We’ve won it eight times.

His team is known for its strong fundamentals. I’ve seen weeks go by without any player making an error.

Here’s what I noticed early on. When his team makes an error, Coach Rutenbar calls time out, goes to the pitcher’s mound and quickly talks through what happened. He reviews the situation, recenters the team’s focus, and returns to the dugout—every time. Never fails.

No one gets chewed out. Instead, Coach helps them get their minds right. It’s impressive.

Most coaches don’t call timeout. Most will encourage from the dugout. Others may wait quietly and see what happens. You rarely see Rutenbar’s team stack errors together. They have a history of correcting things and winning the game immediately.

That’s a picture of bringing urgency:

• Address safety errors now.
• Address quality errors now.
• Clean up messes now.
• Teach better methods now.
• Get ready now.
• Say thank you now.

Bringing urgency means meeting the standard in the moment.