WHAT TIME IS IT?

What comes to your mind when you hear the word time?  Do you think in seconds, minutes, or hours?  Do you immediately look at your phone or watch?  Do you begin to consider what you have on your calendar that you need to complete for the day?  Well, I would like for you to consider how much time you have been getting up every day to chase your life goals as a leader.  

When was the last time you reflected on how much you have learned over the course of your life?  Whether you are just graduating from college or have been in leadership for 20 years, there are some incredible lessons that you have learned along this journey of time.  What do you plan to do with the time that you have given to be the leader you are today?  If you are a parent, how would you like to maximize the hours that you have given to raise your children as their leader?  

I was thinking about this recently: we give so much time and energy to preparing to be the best leaders we can be, but once we step into the role of a leader, do we teach others how to use their minutes of preparation in a healthy manner?  

Can you remember what it was like when you were preparing to be a leader?  How much sleep did you lose?  What were your eating habits like?  This is a good one. How much fun time did you allow yourself to participate in?  Are you getting the picture now?

Now that I have you reflecting on time from a different perspective, I invite you to find one person that you are leading and ask them what they are working towards.  Once you find out what the person is working towards, listen to how the person is using their time.  Listen to see if you can share any nuggets with the person on how to maximize their preparation time healthily.

Even as I’m sharing this information with you, I am considering what I can do differently this week to use my time better.  The one reality that we all must understand is that unless we are willing to get better at how we use our time as a leader, we are unable to help anyone else get better in this area.  

Would you like to incorporate some healthy tools into your life to assist with your daily routines as a leader? Here are a few suggestions to try:  

• Become better at managing your time; 
• Put your appointments in your calendar; 
• Prepare for meetings and upcoming events; 
• Incorporate the word “no” into your vocabulary;
• Re-examine what you are doing, as some items may need to be removed from your life.

Take a moment to reflect on your time habits and consider what simple steps you can take this week.  One good tool is to simply slow down.  Slowing down to enjoy the minutes of your day will allow you to enjoy your day.  Enjoying your day allows you to enjoy your week, which causes you to enjoy your month, and so forth.  

I hope that you will join me and decide to be intentional about managing your time to have better days.