3 Essentials for Managing Your Time Like a Pro

I don’t know about you, but I have never known a great leader that didn’t know how to mange their greatest asset well ... their time. As you grow as a leader, your time becomes the most valued gift you can invest in others. If you don’t manage this asset well, your true ability and potential will never be known. Here are just three essentials I have found when it comes to managing my time: 1. System You have to have a system! You have to have a system! Say it with me … "I have to have a system!" You can’t manage what you can’t measure. That is an old-school business axiom, but it is so true in the context of time management. I have used many systems over the years through being in sales to being a business owner and now a pastor and organizational leader. My systems have gone from paper (Daytimer 1-page/day) to electronic (the old Shark system) back to paper (Franklin planner 2-page/day) to now all tech with Mac, iPhone, iPad, Things program, iCal, & Evernote. Whatever you use, it doesn’t matter as long as it works for YOU! And you use it at LEAST 2X/day! 2. Self-Control This is the balloon buster right here. You could be dying from a disease, have the cure in your pocket, and still die! Just because you have a system, it does you no good unless you USE it! So don’t brag on the fact that you have a system if you aren’t using it; you may still be dying a slow death. 3. Sight A good time management system will help keep your sights on the most important, not the most urgent. It will help you balance appointments, projects, family, relationships, and God time. If there isn’t a written plan to keep these in balance and bring the important things to the front, only the “fires” will be addressed, and that is a sure-fire recipe for burnout and failure.