Secret 5: Leaders Get Results
from The 7 Secrets of Exceptional Leadership
by Brian Tracy
Results are everything–in life, in business and in leadership. Leaders are those who have developed the ability to achieve the most important results expected of them in their positions. The first question of the leader is always, "What results are expected of me?"
The second question leaders ask is, "Of all the results that I can achieve, what are the most important results for my business?"
There will always be too much to do and too little time, especially for leaders in their positions of responsibility. All of life, therefore, consists of making choices and decisions between what is more important and what is less important, between what you care about the most and what you care about less.
The quality of your life today is a measure of the quality of your choices and decisions up to this point. To improve the quality of your life in the future, you must make better choices and different decisions in the present.
Use Your Time Well
Perhaps the most important decisions you make revolve around how you are going to allocate your time each day. Time management is really life management, management of yourself.
Time cannot be saved. It can only be spent differently. It can only be allocated away from activities of low value toward activities of higher value. Ask yourself, "In what areas and activities can I achieve the highest return on my investment of time and energy?"
One of the key considerations for leaders has to do with the potential consequences of doing or not doing something. Something that is important is an activity that has serious potential consequences for doing it or not doing it. Something that is unimportant is something that has few or no consequences at all.
Top leaders focus and concentrate on activities that can have serious potential consequences for completion or non-completion.
Average people, those in the bottom 80 percent, may be as intelligent and as well educated, but they spend most of their time doing things that are fun and easy rather than things that are hard and necessary, and which can make a real difference in achieving key results.