Lead With the Wise Use of TimeSolomon says, “Hard work brings prosperity; only a fool idles away his time.”Wise leaders know that time is their most precious asset. When seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years pass, they are lost forever. Time can never be called back or used again once it has passed. A lost today cannot be recycled and another will not replace it. Time applies its rules to all; even the richest man on earth cannot buy more time than any other person. Siteswise
Wise leaders know that the secret to their success is determined by their daily agenda. They use their time with great care and they make time to work on their priorities. We gradually learn to say “no” to various demands when we have a sufficiently anchored “yes” within ourselves to guide us to what is of long-term importance.When it comes to time, invest it wisely.As Solomon so poetically said, “I, Wisdom, will make the hours of your day more profitable and the years of your life more fruitful!”Wise leaders concentrate their time and energy on the top 20 percent of activities that produce an 80 percent return on their effort. This means they must be ruthless in prioritizing things that give the highest return.The main difficulty with prioritizing and dealing with the most important things first can be likened to the contrast between the clock and a compass.The clock is for meetings, activities and commitments, what we do, and how we spend our time.The compass marks direction, vision, values, principles, what is important for our leadership of ourselves and others. Both are important and there needs to be a balance between the two.Wise leaders also support their co-workers in constructively dealing with time. The leader who is able to guide their co-workers’ priorities so they are consistent with the group’s most important objectives will effectively lead the work forward.