In an article I wrote a few months back called, “The 3 Keys to Being a Champion,” I wrote about three important factors that went into being a champion in sports and in life and applied that to job hunting.

I missed a very important one, a fourth key, that I was reminded of when reading “Bloomberg Businessweek,” in particular an article about a retail chain called Forever 21. Personally, it was not a store I have heard of but the more I read about it, the more I could see how I had erred in my earlier article.

You see, the founder and his family were immigrants who worked extremely hard to build this chain from nothing to 475 stores in a short time. They  made mistakes (who hasn’t) but he and his wife arrived in the US in 1981, opened their first store while working menial jobs (he pumped gas and worked as a janitor when they opened their first store), but worked long hours and created a family structure geared to what was important to them–making a success of their business,

The fact is few people put in anywhere near the effort in their job search as this family did starting their business. Most do nothing to change their economics, do not work as hard on finding work as they think they do, do not network or practice for interviews, do not seek advice or help . . . let me be blunt.

Most people are far more lackadaisical in their job search than they think they are. As a matter of fact, they display little urgency. They keep spending to the same level that they were before they lost their jobs and, if they are working and trying to find a job, do little more than set up search agents on job boards or LinkedIn and apply to ads that are sent to them.

If your career is important to you, it is imperative, it is critical, it is an absolute necessity that you approach your job search with the same effort as the Chang family did when they started their chain.

You have no guarantees that the next company you work for will not close and that your skills will be in demand. Even if you join your next firm as an employee, your relationship with them is nothing more than a glorified temp dependent upon the success of the business and the need for your skills for your livelihood.

Conduct yourself with urgency and effort and see how much further you will go.