Chapter 8: Scheduling
Leadership requires a strategic approach to scheduling. One vital characteristic of leaders is their recognition of the value of time. They work to maximize each moment. A “strategic approach” means to enact certain steps or schemes in order to achieve a goal. Leaders take a strategic approach to scheduling their day.
They do not allow the day to schedule them. It is critically important to have a planner, a paper or an electronic organizer. You must have a place where you can record goals, appointments, trips, progress evaluations, etc. Disorganization will derail your progress and undermine your dreams. Someone said the future belongs to the organized. Don’t forget that!
Control your day. When you let a day control you, you’ve lost the strategic advantage. When you lose control, you’re like a football quarterback who has a headset communication failure and can’t hear the coaches who are sitting up high in the stadium. He is at the mercy of the forces aligned against him.
Yes, I know that life is full of surprises. But, when you develop a habit of approaching your day with an excellence of time management, then you take control of life. Consider Proverbs 21:5: The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. The word haste in this translation actually means “pressed by outside forces” in the original Hebrew. In other words, this scriptures says that planning (or a strategic approach) leads to profit, but those who are pressed by outside factors will end up in poverty. Be diligent to plan – strategically schedule – your life.