Aim for quality, not just quantity in your life. Does it feel like 80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people. Are you one of those 20%?
As a leader, you are always asked for more. You get asked to help out with everyone’s team and projects. Do you have the ability to say “no”? Are you the one that says to yourself after you agree to take on one more project “Why did I do that? I do not have the time to do it right.” I have been there before.
I started sitting on different boards for different organizations and helping out with too many duties at church. I felt myself slipping. I did not give enough effort to each of them. That was not fair to those teams. I started overlapping responsibilities. I could feel my stress level rising. I knew that I needed to start saying “no” when asked to pick up another duty. That was not enough, though.
Sometimes, you need to say “no” to yourself and make the tough decision to step down from a position that you hold. It is a matter of pride. If we step down, we feel a sense of failure. This should not be the case. Let someone else have those duties that they can give more time and effort to. You are not performing at your best, so admit it to yourself. I had to back out of a couple of duties at church and one board position to get myself back in control.
What I noticed afterwards is a new dedication to the teams that I was still involved in. I could give them more of my attention and was much more successful. Sometimes people are such givers, that they give away too much of their time. They always want to help someone else. Eventually, they are not as giving as they thought that they were. They can potentially limit the team that they are on because of a less than 100% effort on their part.
Take a good look at your work load. Have you stretched yourself too thin because of not telling someone that you do not have time to work with them on a project? Decide what you need to drop from your schedule to succeed in the other areas. Remember that your goal should be to produce more quality instead of just quantity.
Too often, it is our family obligations that get put in the background as we push to do more. Remember the priorities in your life. Do not plan to add God into your life. Figure out how to dedicate your life to His plan.
