How Leaders should spend their time
Time is something everyone has an issue with, most times it seems as if 24 hours a day is not enough for us and we need more while other times it seems time is too slow and we are looking out to it to end soon.
After carefully checking the progression of Leaders in their respective fields, I have come to the realization that Leaders actually set their priorities (what they spend time on) in just two categories.
Priority is what you build up your brain to switch to, it’s what you tell yourself is “Important”, it’s who you call the most, it’s what you linger in/on without regretting it. Priority though changes overtime, many people do an appraisal of what they want and don’t want after retrospectively going over the progression of their lives. Everyone does that, and it’s a good thing only that most people do it during the depressed state of their lives, they do it whenever they are in their lows, which is not bad too only that things might have gone too far beyond easy repair at that time.
As the title of this write up reads, we spend time! So what else do we spend? Money? Credit? Spending shows an exchange of something, it shows you are giving something in return for some other things, no matter how intrinsic. As regards priority, we spend two things; Time and Money.
Time and Money can also symbolise Calendar and Currency. A lot of people come out with the excuse; I don’t have time for this, I don’t have time for that, I spend a lot of time on my work, I spend a lot of time on family, I spend all of my night on preparing dinner and all other excuses that tells our brain how preoccupied we will love to be. Most times we see that all of these excuses produce little or no progress, they are just normal things we do every day that seems to be time consuming but doesn’t give any real benefit in the long run.
As of time, how deliberate are you in spending time? Do you have a regiment? Do you have a specific thing you fix each hour to do? Do you even have a direction for the day? Or you just allow what other people want direct you? Why do Military men do well in business after their service? It’s because they have a regiment they have been trained to follow. What the regiment teaches them is commitment, discipline and it strengthens their will power to make a decision.
Be deliberate about time, define your hourly plan, have a theme, a purpose, a direction for each day, it can be yesterday’s theme you use today, that’s fine, but it’s your commitment to it that matters. Yeah you spend 4 hours on the road everyday, you think you can’t control all that happens for those four hours because you are on transit, but you know you can, listening to a podcast not music can go a long way preparing your mind. You can use what you hear to control your thought but that must have been planned by you before you start your day. The message here is be intentional!!!
Your currency! You complain the economy is bad, money is never enough, and what do you spend money on? Where is your money going to? Fine a lot has been going about financial accountability and deliberateness, am not going to be talking about that. Your priorities are what you spend your money on. Most times when you are anxious and even desperate to get something, you over buy by spending too much for it than it really is. But you know priorities most times are not really as important as you placed them to be, most times they are displaced priorities. Most times we feel they are so important we wouldn’t live without them, that is why we need to always appraise them every now and then. Check again, is eating Pizza every Saturday mornings an economical thing to do? Is it even healthy for you in the first place? You want people to think you are brilliant so you keep buying books, do you even have time to read hardcover? Why not download the eBook or give the ones rotting in your closet to someone else who needs it for development.
Let’s check your statement of account this month; what did you spend your money on? Data? Food? Parties? Clothes? Fuel? Saving? A Car? Uber? Do an appraisal, check for yourself. The funny thing is if you are not intentional about how you spend; your brain will pick stuffs out for you. But if you have a priority or a list of priorities, you know your life will go in that direction.
Your priorities should align towards a balanced life; you determine your definition of a balanced life. Friendship is hard to keep, so keep a closed circle, few friends who value friendship will work for you. Family is key too and work too should be important but personal development should be the number one priority in your life if it’s going to progress. Keep moving. Spend your time wisely, pick your priorities right.
NB: This post was made from jottings and notes made from events and online journals. The Mentorship for Life Series session of Time Management with Mrs Ada-Lenard also impacted greatly on the piece. Thanks for reading.
