I recently listened to a brilliant lecture by James Hewitt on Navigating the Leadership Paradox.
He stated that on the one hand we are constantly solving issues, sorting personnel problems, managing resources etc. And this requires a lot of brain power and time. But on the other hand we have to think and plan for the future of our ministries, to be creative in how we move forward with the resources we have to build what God has placed in our hand to do.
This also requires a great deal of time and energy. The trouble is, too many of us spend the majority of our time and effort on managing the ‘now’ rather than strategizing for the future. Sound familiar?
I have definitely experienced this, that sense of juggling the different departments, trying to get through the list of actions, the HR meetings, the annual reviews, the team meetings etc… there is such a lot that needs to happen to keep an organisation running well. But equally if we only ever focus on what is right in front of us we will never put the necessary steps in place for the next phase of growth and health, we will never raise the leaders that will be required or be strategic with finance in preparation for what is coming. We will only maintain ‘today’.
When you look at your own calendar – how much time is spent on the ‘now’ versus ‘the future’?
And how can you change this so that there are sections of your week or month that are allocated to future planning and preparing? For next year… five years and beyond.
Is it really true that we don’t have enough time to plan and prepare for the future or are we not managing the time we have well?
James Hewitt also raised the important issue of distractions. Did you know it is estimated we check our phones on average 149 times a day and that we allow distractions every 11 minutes in most of the tasks that we are seeking to accomplish.
We lose a lot of time by allowing distractions. James recommended turning all notifications off, even making sure your phone isn’t present in meetings so there is no potential for distractions, and having time allocated to checking email each day (and not checking it outside of those times).
We have always recommended putting creative time in the diary, like scheduling a meeting, that is time allocated to think, brainstorm and be collaborative.
What distracts you and how can you eliminate as many distractions as possible in your working day so that your rest is uninterrupted?
If you are interested in hearing more from James Hewitt why not check out his website and resources on https://jameshewittperformance.com. We need to make time to work smarter to rest better.