The Benefits of being Intentional with Your Time

In any position of Leadership, there are always things to work on personally and professionally.  There are times you believe things are going well, while other times you feel you’re on a hamster wheel and can’t keep up with the demands.  One way to be a more effective leader is to become more intentional with your time.  In other words, look at why you do the things you’re doing.

Let’s start with your outlook calendar, if it’s booked solid, revisit each meeting and ask yourself if it is a need to attend or nice to attend meeting.  If it’s a “nice to attend” can someone go in your place and report back to you or can you get the meeting minutes to keep yourself up to speed?  This is one way for you to be more intentional with your time as well as give a team member more responsibility, too.

Now take a second look at your calendar, do you have time scheduled to keep up on emails, return phone calls and to strategize?    A past leader encouraged me to block the first hour of each day and here’s what happened, I didn’t feel as rushed throughout the day, I could address pressing email that had just come in, and if one of my team members caught me with an issue before I even hit my office, I knew I could take the time to listen. I felt more in control, organized and more productive in general.

Last, think about how often you intentionally spend time strategizing on your goals and overall vision. Once you have cast your vison and set goals with your team, as the leader you need to revisit often and make the changes needed to keep your team on the path to success. Those adjustments in turn, allow you all to be more productive day to day, making your vision and specific goals more achievable. 

If you’re a new or emerging leader living in the Sioux Falls Area, and want to further develop your leadership skills, check out Lead to Inspire’s Foundation of Leadership training course.  It’s listed under products and services on our website at www.leadtoinspire.net