While working with organizations I have led leadership roundtables using John Maxwell’s book Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 as a basis for our conversation. Typically, on the first day after defining what it means to be a leader, we discuss priorities. This is always a beneficial and practical conversation that challenges everyone.
Entire books have been written on this topic by multiple authors and I will highlight a couple in here. Below are some simple steps you can apply so you can be even more focused in your leadership.
Assess Your Time
For years I was in an environment where bells and clock timers dictated my day so we were efficient. I don’t know if that environment or my natural wiring makes the tool I am about to share naturally easy for me. I learned about “the fifteen-minute miracle.” What you do is take a sheet that blocks the entire day in fifteen-minute intervals and track your time.
Write down everything you do on this document to see where your time is going. After you fill it out take a few minutes to ask yourself two questions:
- Where are you spending your time?
- How is this moving me toward my ultimate goal?
To answer the second question, take time to discern this next tip.
Decide What is Important
A couple tools exist to help with this. One that many people I work with find useful I first encountered through Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The urgent/important grid. I won’t discuss that here because I covered it in a previous blog. The second tool I found in Rory Vaden’s book Procrastinate on Purpose where he discusses the procrastination funnel. This tool helps you filter through your tasks to determine if you should eliminate, automate, delegate, act or procrastinate on the task.
You may wonder why would you procrastinate on purpose? The task may need to be done, but not immediately. If we do it later then we will be able to focus on higher priorities now. Combining the urgent/important grid with the procrastination funnel will set us up for the final step to help us prioritize effectively.
Know Your Top Two
Years ago the pareto principle was introduced. This idea explained how 20% of the work gets 80% of the results. Now that you have assessed your time and determined what is urgent and important narrow it down to two. If you look at what you have today, this week, this month, or this year what will get you the most return on your time. What are the two things that will get you eighty percent of your results? Focus on those two things and be confident you are investing your time in the right place.
Hopefully these tips were helpful. Take time now or today to apply these tips so you can lead yourself and those around you with more focus and effectiveness. Need a tool for this? Go here for a free downloadable resource to help you assess, decide, and focus to your top two priorities. Lead well.
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