One of the questions that has really been top-of-mind for me recently is this: “Have I done a good job of time management so far this year?” Moreover, “What can I do better?” And they’re valid questions, especially for us as leaders practicing self-leadership. At the end of the day, our ability to maximize our time is essential. This is important for our overall effectiveness as a leader and influencer of others.¹

We Can’t Manage Time!

The challenge is we can’t manage time. In fact, we cannot control it in any way. However, we can make the decision to do a better job of managing ourselves through the principles of self-leadership. As John Maxwell, in his book Leadership Gold: Lessons I’ve Learned From a Lifetime of Leading, states:

“Nothing separates successful people from unsuccessful people more than how they use their time. Successful people understand that time is the most precious commodity on earth.”¹

If I were being completely honest with myself, looking back over my life, I’d have to say that I have wasted a lot of time on things that delivered very little positive return. And that is frustrating! I’d like to have some of that time back, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. You see, I am the type of person that is always looking for what the return on investment is going to be for virtually everything I choose to do. This thought process aligns with self-leadership. It focuses on the impact of time spent for best returns. Furthermore, it’s not only about me! The time I’ve wasted through the years that could have been more effectively spent elsewhere has impacted others too, including my family. 

It’s important for us as leaders to realize that how we choose to manage our lives and prioritize our time has bigger consequences than we may initially realize. When we make the decision to waste time, we’re not only hurting ourselves. We’re also impacting the ability of those we lead to reach their full potential through self-leadership strategies. 

Ideas to Consider

So, before I conclude this post, I’d like to give you some ideas on things to consider with regards to being a better self-manager. Not only will these things make you more effective as a leader, but they will also help you determine where you should be investing the most time and energy. I’d also like to give you some more objective things to consider overall with regards to better time management. I’ve chosen to do that this week through a great video of Dave Crenshaw speaking on the myth of multitasking. I think you will find the video quite eye-opening. I know it was for me the first time I saw it.

Anyway, here are three things that you should strive to do to become a great self-manager. These will promote strong self-leadership skills. As you go through this next week, ask yourself if you’re falling short in any of these three areas.

1. Value your uniqueness and focus on your giftedness – As a leader, I’m going to assume that you want to make an impact. It’s hard to do that if you’re trying to be someone you’re not.
2. Increase your effectiveness by doing the most important things first – By focusing on the important things first, we do a much better job of looking farther ahead into the future. This approach minimizes the times when we are forced to react to crisis situations.
3. Increase your potential by being open-minded to coaching & training – Zig Ziglar once said, “The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is not training them and keeping them!”

“Either run the day or the day runs you!” – Jim Rohn

Dave Crenshaw – The Myth of Multitasking

1. Maxwell, John C. Leadership Gold: Lessons Learned from a Lifetime of Leading. Thomas Nelson, 2008.

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