Time & Energy Management

Welcome to Lesson 3 of 4 in Leadership Foundations. It takes about 15 minutes.

Your week tells the truth about your priorities, whatever you say they are. In this lesson you will see where your time really goes, choose what matters most, and learn to protect your energy, not just your hours.

Scripture comes from the King James Version. This is a course for learning and practice, and it cannot promise particular results.

Since last time

Last time you chose a small action: asking for time before an answer, going through the five steps on a decision, or writing down a line you will not cross.

Look back at the week. What did you try, and what did you notice? If you did not manage it, say so honestly and carry it into this week.

In this lesson you will

• Find where your time goes and choose three priorities for the week.
• Explain how using time wisely and resting well, as Scripture describes them, are part of good leadership.
• Name what drains and what restores your energy, and protect one block of rest.

Before you start

How true is each of these for you today, from 1 (not true) to 5 (very true)?

• My week follows my real priorities.
• I know where my time goes each day.
• I rest enough to work well.

1. What your week says

Time leaks away: ten minutes on the phone here, an unplanned visit there. By evening the important thing has not been touched.

Ephesians 5:15–16 (KJV) 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Walk circumspectly: carefully, as on uneven ground. Redeeming the time: buying it back, using it on purpose.

A simple first step is to see where your time goes. Most of us guess badly. For one ordinary day, write down what you did each hour. Then ask:

• What took more time than it deserved?
• What important thing got no time at all?
• Where did my best hours go?

Imagine a young manager who believes she is too busy to plan. She tracks one Tuesday and finds almost two hours went on messages that needed no reply. She has not found more time. She has found where it was going.

Think about it: Where does your time leak most: messages, unplanned visits, meetings, screens, travel?

Try this week: Track one ordinary day this week, hour by hour, on your phone or on paper. Circle the hour that was least worth it.

2. Three priorities, first

Leaders are pulled by many good demands. Saying yes to all of them means doing none of them well. Decide your priorities before the demands arrive, or the demands will decide for you.

• Choose three priorities for the week, before it starts. Not ten. Three.
• Put them in your calendar first, before meetings and messages.
• Give your best hours to the hardest one. Most people have two or three hours a day when they think most clearly.
• Learn a kind no. "I cannot this week, but I can on Monday" protects your priority and respects the person asking.

When you want a full weekly planning system for a team or a business, KMA's Leadership Track goes further.

Think about it: What demand keeps taking the place of the thing you know you should be doing?

Try this week: Before next week begins, choose three priorities and put each one in your calendar first.

3. Protect your energy, not just your hours

Some leaders wear exhaustion as a badge. When his disciples came back from a busy mission, with no time even to eat, Jesus took them in a different direction.

Mark 6:31 (KJV) 31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

Come ye yourselves apart … and rest a while. Rest is part of how good work gets done. Tired leaders are short with people and make poor decisions.

An hour when you are fresh is worth more than three when you are drained. So manage energy as well as time:

• Sleep is the foundation. Protect it like a meeting.
• Short breaks: a walk, a meal away from your desk or phone.
• A weekly stop: some hours with no work at all.
• Know what drains and what restores you. Put draining tasks in your strong hours, and follow them with something that restores you.

Think about it: When did you last rest without guilt? What usually stops you?

Try this week: Put one block of real rest in your calendar this week, at least three hours with no work messages, and keep it.

Activities

Reflection

• If someone looked only at your last week, what would they say your priorities are?

Key takeaways

• Your week tells the truth about your priorities.
• Track a day, then choose three priorities and put them first.
• Give your best hours to the hardest work, and learn a kind no.
• Rest is part of good work: protect your energy, not just your hours.

Your next step

You have finished Lesson 3. You are on the path of growth: you know where your time and energy go, and you have protected a block of rest.

These lessons help you lead yourself. To keep growing, KMA offers two next steps:

Mentorship. Grow with a KMA mentor who helps you lead in real situations and follows up with you on what you tried. See KMA's mentorship packages. See the mentorship packages

Or: the Leadership Track (monthly Learning membership). Prefer to learn on your own first? The Leadership Track turns leading yourself into leading others: pitching without a budget, solving real problems and building your network. See the Leadership Track