At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, swimmer Michael Phelps broke the world record for the most gold medals won by an individual during a single Olympiad. In the 100m butterfly, the race in which he tied the world record by collecting his seventh gold, Phelps won in a photo finish. In fact, to the naked eye, it appeared as if he had lost to Serbian Milorad Cavic. However, electronic sensors reported, and video evidence confirmed, that Phelps had touched the finishing wall of the pool one one-hundredth of a second before Cavic!
While the smallest of differences in time separated Phelps from Cavic, their remarkable performances reflected a common commitment to spend thousands of hours in training. Each athlete dedicated years of his life to perfecting his technique and to building his strength and stamina prior to swimming in Beijing. To compete at the Olympics, to be the best in the world, Phelps and Cavic had to be incredibly disciplined in how they used time.
What’s true for Olympians is true for leaders: how they spend time largely determines their level of success. Influential people understand that time is the most precious commodity on earth. As a result, they know where their time goes. They continually analyze how they are using their time and repeatedly ask themselves the question, “Am I making the most of the minutes in my day?”
As a leader, it’s not always immediately clear which activities deserve priority placement on your calendar. How do you judge whether something is worthy of your time and attention? Over the course of my career, I’ve used the following formula in order to determine where to devote my time.
Step one: Rate the task in terms of importance.
Critical = 5 points
Necessary = 4 points
Important = 3 points
Helpful = 2 points
Marginal = 1 point
Step two: Rate the task according to its urgency, or when it needs to be done.
This month = 5 points
Next month = 4 points
This quarter = 3 points
Next quarter = 2 points
End of year = 1 point
Step three: Multiply the rate of importance by the rate of urgency. For example, a critical task (5 points) needing to be completed by next month (4 points) would have a score of 20 (5 x 4).
After assigning each task a number, make a new to-do list. Rank the items from highest to lowest score. That’s a smart way to plan your day.
How you spend your time is an important question not only for you but also for your team. People tend to take their cues from the leader when it comes to time management. Therefore, you want to make sure there’s a match between your actions, your business priorities, and your team’s activities.
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John Maxwell grew up in the 1950s in the small Midwestern city of Circleville, Ohio. John's earliest childhood memory is of knowing that he would someday be a pastor. He professed faith in Christ at the age of three, and reaffirmed that commitment when he was 13. At age 17, John began preparing for the ministry. He attended Circleville Bible College, earning his bachelor's degree in 1969. In June of that same year, he married his sweetheart, Margaret, and moved to tiny Hillham, Indiana, where he began his first pastorate.
While serving in his second church, Maxwell began to study the correlation between leadership effectiveness and ministry effectiveness. On July 4, 1976, while preaching at a service commemorating America's bicentennial, John sensed that God was calling him into a ministry to pastors. Within days after that event, pastors began to contact him, asking for his assistance in nurturing their churches. Over the next four years, on an informal basis, John helped scores of fellow pastors. Then, in 1980, he was asked to become Executive Director of Evangelism for the Wesleyan denomination.
Though his time at Wesleyan headquarters was productive, John soon realized that his deeper desire was to help pastors from numerous denominations. He knew that desire would be unfulfilled if he were to stay at denominational headquarters. As a result, in 1981 John accepted the call to return to the pastorate, this time at Skyline Wesleyan Church in the San Diego, California area. But he did so with the church's blessing to pursue his vision. The Skyline congregation allowed him to continue mentoring and assisting pastors even as he led them to new levels.
In 1985, as he continued to equip and encourage other pastors, John took the next crucial step in leadership development. He founded a new company called INJOY and created the INJOY Life Club, featuring a monthly tape for leaders. The fledging operation, established in the corner of a garage, was soon bursting at the seams. The INJOY Life Club tapes were received with great enthusiasm, and the number of subscriptions quickly increased from hundreds to thousands. Simultaneously, the demand for other resources and seminars exploded. Pastors from coast to coast were responding, and their desire for help was even greater than John had anticipated.
As the years passed, INJOY began demanding more and more of John's time. In 1995, he resigned from his position as senior pastor at Skyline following a very fruitful 14-year tenure. The church had tripled in size and its lay ministry involvement had increased ten-fold. Dr. Maxwell is in great demand today as a speaker. Through his bestselling books, audio and video resources, and major conferences, he communicates directly with more than one million people every year. He is frequently asked to speak for organizations such as Promise Keepers and Focus on the Family, but his greatest joy and desire is to help pastors become better leaders.
Because the need for leadership development knows no borders, John established EQUIP, a non-profit organization which trains leaders in urban communities, academic institutions, and within international organizations. EQUIP is also spearheading a movement which has enlisted more than one million pastoral prayer partners who covenant to pray specifically for those who shepherd God's flock.
John continues to seek new opportunities to help churches and church leaders. He knows that one thing is constant: the only hope for the world is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives life abundantly.