Your Personal Velocity is about task accomplishment and the creation of positive momentum. High velocity will enable us to achieve more in a defined time frame. We can attain high velocity through focused direction and applied energy. This underlines the premise that it is vital to have your clarified goals in writing. No goals = No Velocity. Our mission today is to talk about how we can increase our velocity in a manner that gets our desired outcome in a timely manner.
In my decades of consulting and training with corporations, I have been amused at the intensity with which high-powered executives make things happen fast. By understanding velocity better we can sort out the derivation of exceptional results.
My friend, Minor Perkins, was the Executive Managing Director at Morgan Keegan Investment Bankers when one of his clients, a hotel company, lured him away to be president of their firm. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse! Minor was a high-velocity guy who loved the hunt and the adrenaline rushes of being in investment banking where things happened fast. The hotel company, while a great firm with outstanding team members, was a relatively low-velocity environment. He lasted two years there but he was going stir-crazy…he felt like he had been spending each day in the library! He went back to Morgan Keegan and everybody understood. He had a great run there and retired in his early sixties. His velocity paid off big time for him.
So what is velocity? I called my long-time friend, speaker, and author, Jim Cathcart, who is an expert on velocity, and asked him for a quote for this issue. Jim was happy to oblige. He said, “Velocity is a combination of your energy and drive; you can increase energy by exercise, rest, nutrition, stress management, and practice; drive is increased by your clarity of goals and the focusing of all your efforts in the direction of your desired outcome.”
So some people might have exceptional capabilities and an above-average IQ, but if they are low energy, they will likely be displaying low velocity, it will take them longer to get the desired outcome than a person of similar attributes but with higher energy being devoted to the goal at hand. If we work on energy improvement and can intensify our focus, we will likely enjoy higher velocity and thus better and faster results. This information might also be helpful to those who are tasked with recruiting high performers. Ask candidates questions that result in answers indicating exceptional energy and velocity.
Years ago, the legendary Arkansas football coach, Frank Broyles, was quoted as having said in a speech that “Luck follows speed”. That is a simple but powerful athletic observation, but it says a lot. I’ve often said that high performers are the men and women who have the ability to compress more results into a given measurable time frame. Higher energy and more intense focus on the goal equal an impressive velocity and outcomes.
Are energy improvement and focused intensity learnable skills? I think the answer is yes. This is an excellent example of the importance of training and skill-building. Those who say great salespeople are born, not made, are right out of the dark ages. We’re not born to be great, we are trained and educated to be great. And a healthy primer on velocity can help all of us!