Often we think it’s about managing segments, little chunks of time measured in hours, half hours, quarter hours or less. Then our attempt at managing our time happens like this:

• We develop a volume of things that we need to do.
• We divide the day up into more and more little segments.
• We search for better positioned segments so we can shove more things into them.
• Meanwhile, we divide all the things to do into priorities.
• Then we put 70% of the priorities in the top priority list and try shoving those in the new little segments we just made.

What we’re really doing is going faster and faster and shoving more and more in. After all, almost everything in our life is a priority, isn’t it? Then for all our efforts we slide down the slippery slope or stress, overload and burnout.

We really ought to manage ourselves and ask, “What are the vital few things that are the truly important?” Those are the things I will get done. It’s not seven out of my list of ten important things to get done. It’s only two. Maybe it’s only one. Start and do those. The others will disappear, fade in significance or step in line to take their turn as one of the vital few later on.

Until we start acting on this for ourselves, we’ll be caught in this race. Somewhere we have to break the cycle and say, “This is where it stops.” Practicing that Law of the Vital Few will make us much more satisfied, thorough and successful.

Often we want to squeeze more and more productivity out of a given period of time, so we shove other things aside, things like renewal and relationships, fostered primarily through pausing. We continue to accumulate a greater volume of things, and our body is saying, “No, I can’t handle this.“ Stress, tiredness, soreness, muscle pain, dissatisfaction and a sense of a lack of well-being become our lot in life.

Adopt the practice of timely management from the Law of the Vital Few. Take your personal best 20% as your springboard for building the future. Where in the past did I have my most success? Identify that small amount of time and duplicate it for today as much as you can. Say, “These are the vital few things that I must do now, and while I am doing those I will delegate, hold to a more appropriate time or give away to others the things that I am not able to do.”

If you are dealing with volume of time commitments placed on you from the outside, then you have to work with the issues of boundaries as well .You may have to set boundaries around people imposing on your time. Let the voice mail get the telephone after certain hours and raise a personal standard that says, “I am not going to work after this hour.”  If it’s sheer volume you may need to look at ways to do it more efficiently. On the other hand you may need to frankly talk to others about helping you. They may be in positions of authority or control to make some changes for you.

It’s not just about time management but timely management of you.

This may be one of the most common areas that executives and leaders wish to work on during our coaching engagements. We live in a world that pushes almost every leader and professional into a crunch for time. There are solutions. They don’t always come easy. People often fear doing what is required thinking they will lose ground and fall behind. But once solutions are put in place and traction is being experienced, leaders find that in fact they can achieve more, do better and actually begin to thrive.

Really, you can read all you want about time management and you can feel the stress until the cows come home. But until you make a major decision to do something about it, you will only amass literature and dissatisfaction. Take action today.

Gary Wood
G.E. Wood and Associates
Personal Effectiveness Coaching for Leaders and Executives since 1998

Let’s talk about joining up, starting up, volunteering, letting you name stand, registering and preparing. As a young leader you may be caught up in a whirlwind of activity. You want to be involved in everything and miss nothing. You’re eager to contribute and available to help out. But, should you be involved in everything or have you bought into a schedule and pace that is less noble than it may at first appear?

There is no doubt that we need workers. And good solid leadership is essential. But being spread too thin may do more harm than good. I think there is a better way. Do you remember Jesus parable of the talents? The master said to the servants who had made a good increase on what he had given them to do,  “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” There are a few things, important things to take care of, not everything, but just a few for those who will be given more responsibility later.

As a seasoned leader I look for young men and women who stick to a task assigned and do it well. They pull together the people to make it happen. They follow through and give it their best. They aren’t off in all directions but remain focused on what they have been given to do. These are the emerging leadership who will be able to handle increasing autonomy. They will make good executive team contributors. They will be some of the best leadership of tomorrow.

What are those few things that would be best for you to put your full attention to? If you are willing many will want to shove you to the front for all sorts of responsibilities. You may need to resist that happening. I have coached many older leaders who are in overload. They share several things in common and need to make similar shifts in their thinking.

a.   They find it hard to say “no” often enough.

Shift from thinking you must respond to every need to realizing you can’t do everything for everybody who asks.

b.   They subtly start to believe they are indispensable.

Shift from thinking no one else will be able to do it as well as you to trusting the abilities and giftedness of others, and allowing them the space to grow.

c.   They buy into the thought that constant activity and busyness is a sign of higher commitment.

Shift from trying to prove something to others to passionately doing well those few things you feel are of highest importance for you to carry out.

Leaders who make things happen do so because they have developed an effective individual pace and over time proven the benefit of clearly knowing what they need and need not be involved in. They practice priority management (which is really all about self-management isn’t it). They don’t major in busyness.

What does your upcoming agenda look like? The leader who carefully and respectfully declines requests while passionately committing themselves to “a few simple things” will most likely be able to sustain a level of commitment that contributes to success and satisfaction.

Key Questions:

1. If you made tomorrow’s to-do list right now, what would the “few simple things” be, that if attended to tomorrow, would actually result in the greatest gain?

2. What are the “few simple things” that you feel compelled to be involved in for this next season? Are they in line with the things you really feel passionate about?

3. What items on your to-do list have become “a few complex, energy draining, and unfulfilling things”? What will you do about this, starting today?

Carefully I walk them through my three part program to deal with burnout.

1. Resolution – Deal with their immediate situation to reduce some of the stress so they can think straight and design a game plan for moving forward.
2. Transition – Find and adopt new strategies for the days to come. You can’t very well solve problems by continuing to do the same things over and over. And finally …
3. Continuity – Make sure the client has made transitions to new ways of thinking and behaving AND that those new strategies have taken root and become the norm.

What do clients get by walking through this simple but profoundly changing step by step process? I’d like to suggest some of the following as reported benefits of dealing with burnout that I have heard. I don’t need to make much comment on them. They are fairly self-explanatory. And they are benefits that everyone experiencing this significantly painful time in their lives would like to have. Here are just a few.

Physical Realm

• Able to start exercising again
• Back aches stop
• Weekly trips to chiropractor stop
• Panic attacks reduce to zero over time
• Get to sleep easier
• Get a better sleep – waking up more relaxed
• Have more physical energy
• Sporadic and strange aches and pains drastically decrease
• Skin irritations stop

Time Realm

• Feel like they get weekends back
• Feel like they get weeknights back
• They once again have choice about what they want to do
• More time to work on projects they care about

Relationship Realm

• More positive relationships begin showing up
• Their mind isn’t preoccupied when with their spouse – totally present again
• Their mind isn’t preoccupied when with their children – totally present again
• Time to enjoy good friends once again

Everyday Living Realm

• Feel more relaxed
• Able to enjoy a hobby if they have one
• Made some long-needed and healthy decisions
• Brought their life into line with the truths they believed
• Discovered or made more personal space – some time to recharge

Opportunity Realm

• Dreaming about possibilities again
• Got to take what they are learning and help others
• Regained the excitement of God opening up new doors

Emotional Realm

• More contentment with their circumstances
• Brighter outlook on life
• Feel like their emotional energy was being renewed
• Sense of regaining control
• Relief from the pressure of worry

Spiritual Realm

• Created the time to connect with God in prayer and the Word once again
• Began to see people (often the source of burnout) through God’s eyes
• Once again connected with God’s people in healthy and enriching relationships
• Developed a core of people who prayed for them daily
• Allowed space for God to work in grace

I think you would agree with me that these benefits of dealing with burnout were worth reaching for. I want to encourage you. Please take the fourth step in my Beat Burnout Plan … Prevention. Prevent the slippery slide into the ways of thinking and behaving that can lead to burnout in the first place. Pursue health and personal and professional effectiveness. Be proactive in the first place and you will reap the benefits that so many leaders, executives and professionals long for this very day.

Some Helpful Resources

Take my Beat Burnout Assessment.

Get and use a copy of my Guide, Beating Burnout, Where to Start.

Participate in a Beat Burnout Call.

Call me directly to discuss and get coaching around your situation.

In coaching engagements, our clients typically realize considerably more than a one percent improvement almost immediately. The point is … they are moving forward, momentum is building.

A one percent improvement is very achievable, even for busy people. One percent a month over ten months is a ten percent improvement. Ten percent is significant, isn’t it? I certainly think so.

Cast in point: The Power of Three

Imagine starting, working on without interruption and moving through to completion, the three action items each week that would make the most significant impact on moving your goals forward. This month you stay focused and practice the Power of Three for a modest one percent monthly improvement. You have managed to achieve the absolute most important things each week for a whole month.

You continue this new habit for 10 months and you have made a 10% improvement in starting and finishing the highest priority items that will make the biggest impact each and ever week. What would that ten percent add up to in new revenues, lives changed, time and resources saved and bottom or top line results?

My Challenge to You

Here is a challenge I’d like to give you.  Make a 1% improvement this week.  And then continue a simple 1% improvement each week for the next month.

What is important enough for you to make one tiny improvement on,  starting now?

A project you are engaged in?

The way you go about handling a certain routine?

Relationships that need attention? (Harder to measure, but do-able.)

Your office systems?

You get the idea.  Small steps build up over time.  Ten weeks means ten percent, and a ten-percent improvement in anything gets noticed.

If you should choose to take me up on this, don’t leave it to chance.  Track yourself.  Be definite.  Clarity leads to results.  And finally, enjoy it.  A small 1% improvement isn’t heavy and burdensome. Celebrate it.

It’s a valid tactic.

Sometimes we have to have someone tell us to stop. I have told men and women I work with to ‘Stop.’ In the past, I have been told to ‘Stop.” We get in such a state of overload that we almost can’t see how we can get off the treadmill. It seems that everything must be done and done yesterday. And we keep on either allowing others to add more or layering it on ourselves. We often need someone from outside our situation to make that critical observation and intervention.

But you say, “I can’t stop.” Sorry, but yes you can. There are very few occasions when something cannot be done to address the problem of ‘too much’. You may not like the options, and you may choose to ignore the options, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t there. And it doesn’t mean that you don’t have a choice. You always have a choice.

God brought a Jethro to Moses when he was overloaded, morning till evening, spending long hours involved with people and their daily concerns and needs. Jethro wisely observed “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.”

In other words, STOP. See with clarity what you are doing. Understand the consequences of continuing to operate this way. Find another way. This is not God’s agenda for you as important as it all may appear and as pressing as the need may be. It can be done another way. There are options. But it is a matter of choice.

I would like to ask you to pause right now and think about your own situation. Is it possible that you are doing way too much for your own physical, mental, emotional and social well being – in short your spiritual wholeness? You have to pause to think about this. Unless you take the time to reflect you will not understand the implications of what you are doing.

Do you need to STOP?

Having a reserve means we don’t have to keep being distracted and drained by the need. Rather, we will eliminate problems and pressure and have the unencumbered ability to reach our potential best.

Imagine a well. If it has just a little water in it, what happens? You start being very careful with using the water you have. You keep checking the level. You may start worrying. You constantly search for emergency sources. Now imagine the well filled to the top with water. Notice how you feel now. Concern has decreased dramatically. Our lives can be like that almost empty well. We live beyond the limits of what we have on hand. There is little left to draw from.

Consider Phil, struggling to juggle work and family. Phil wanted things to be done right. He’d give 110 percent to any project he put his hand too. He was noticed. More projects and offers of promotion came his way. His experience and expertise were sought out. You’d think this success would energize him, but the opposite took place. Phil’s discretionary time eroded. Since work had to be done, his family had reluctantly slipped into the discretionary category. Phil had little time for his family, little time to spend with God, no time for himself and constantly lived in the future, longing for a day when it would be different.

Several trips to the hospital later, with panic attacks, missed work and a deteriorating approach to people around him, I received Phil’s call. Over time we strategized about the future he saw and how to bring it into the present. Phil needed to carve out some time to actually relax and figure out where he was going.

After gaining some real clarity about his tending towards being a perfectionist, he started by saying “no” to new projects until he finished a project already started. He cut the number of projects back to reflect a more comfortable working pace. This moved him closer to balance. Phil began praying more and he physically started booking his family in as priority time. He concentrated whole undistracted days on unfinished business, cleaning up his long to-do lists.

Bits of discretionary time started to appear. This gave him a little time to relax and think about the offers coming in and just what he and his family really wanted from life. Clarity led to an intentional, but flexible strategy being developed to cover the short, medium and longer term in his life.

What did Phil get that was so important? Time. Once that was carved out, he could think clearer, act smarter and begin to enjoy his wife, family and himself again. Having a reserve of time improved how he looked at people, his health and his approach to living. Talking about it garnered the respect of others around him. Now, things have changed. No offer or activity could convince Phil to deteriorate that reserve of personal time he now guards so closely.

We live in an extremely noisy world.  Most often people who describe themselves as in overload, a few steps removed from burnout, don’t experience much quiet. Their lives are often busy, full of people, and quiet is usually a relatively scarce commodity.  You know what it’s like going from one activity to the next throughout the day.  It doesn’t afford much time for pause or reflection, and when it does, that is relatively short-lived.

Even if it seems quiet, it’s often hard to turn the brain off.  It just seems to keep working.  We wake up and the brain is active, we go through a busy day with brain in high gear, we go to bed thinking and working through situations of the day.  And oftentimes we can’t get to sleep because the mind keeps on working while we gaze anxiously at the time (sometimes measured in hours) go by on the bedside clock.

So how do we find time to be quiet?  It might not necessarily be easy, but we need to begin to make the effort to build quiet time into our lives. It’s like anything else that’s important, we’ll find a way to do it.

Something you will have to get over right away is the thought that somehow you shouldn’t be taking this time. You don’t feel guilty about other important events that are scheduled into your work and life routine.  And you shouldn’t feel guilty about this either.  Because it is during this time of quiet that you are going to begin taking, that you will make a decisive victory against overload and burnout.  You will have clearer thoughts about how to work, lead and live more effectively and productively.

This quiet time is extremely important.  It is as important as any other item on your calendar.  It needs to be treated like any other important engagement you might have. You might say that being quiet will be your first line drawn in the sand.

I’m going to ask something big of you right now. I want you to block out one or two consecutive hours during the week when you can have a period of quiet.  It is going to be a very purposeful quiet.  Put that on your scheduler.  Next I want you to block a full day sometime in the next month for a personal retreat.  And thereafter I want you to block out one full day for a quarterly retreat.

Don’t worry, this time doesn’t need to cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars.  Make them simple, purposeful times. You need to clear out the clutter of noise and activity and take some time to think about you. Write down or work with your coach on some penetrating questions you might want to ask yourself during that time. Then take lots of time to think through them.

Great leaders know so well what they will say ‘yes’ to, that saying ‘no’ generally comes easy.

The not-to-do list allows us to create boundaries around out time and talents. It allows us to avoid being spread too thin. It prevents us from potentially slipping into attitudes that devalue others and depreciate ourselves.

Those leaders, executives, owners and professionals around us who we admire for really achieving good things, do not get involved in everything. They understand their limits and work within them. Whether they operate a successful business from home or run an international empire from the office with the commanding view, these men and women have clear boundaries.

Sometimes they tick people off when they say ‘no’ to a request. But they get things done … the right things … things that move causes, projects and programs forward. They appear to have a great ability to focus on those priorities that will best advance the ball.

“Today many are harming themselves through the temptation to do more than their limits will allow. Walking, running, and ambition are not necessarily unhealthy. Too much, however, is universally unhealthy. Overload is like that. The problem is not with the ‘load’. The problem is with the ‘over’. Richard Swenson, Margin, 1992, NavPress

We live surrounded by the cult-of-busy. People busily doing things, but achieving little, happy to have the bragging rights of being ‘too busy’ under the guise of complaining about work.

The leader ought not to live like this. Yes, you may be busy. Let’s not kid ourselves. There is a lot on your plate. But your busy is directed and engaged. It is focused on priorities. It takes its energy from attending to those things which are most important and which when achieved will make the biggest impact.

Creating the First Draft of Your Not-to-Do List

• Answer this question, ‘What matters?”. Check last weeks to-do list against this question. Were you working on what matters? Did you achieve those few things that would make the biggest difference? Or did your time get chewed up with items of lesser importance? Or worse yet, frittered away?
• Write down those things which you are not prepared to do or which are simply not effective things for you to be doing. As a leader there are some key activities that you should be spending considerable time on and others that are just not the best use of your time.
• Think about how willing you are to allow other people to do what needs to be done. Can you let them take the responsibility? Possibly fail to get it as well done as you think you can do it? Deal with the consequences? In other words before you make your not-to-do list, think about your attitudes toward others and just how important you find yourself to be.
• Write the not-to-do list.

Possible Not-to-Do’s. I will not:

• Say yes to every request for my presence at some function.
• Agree to sit on as many boards.
• Take my work home on these nights of the week.
• Allow that particular area to run understaffed, causing pressure on me.
• Agree to as many conference calls.
• OK so many meetings that require my involvement.
• Agree to speak as often in places that involve considerable travel.
• Allow interruptions during my most productive hours.
• Agree to hear a problem without the person providing a potential solution.
• Stay any longer in an area than 10 years.
• Try to troubleshoot technical problems myself.
• Accept the invitation to long lunches.

You get the idea. See how you do with your list. And then execute it with intention and focus. As you work with your personal coach, develop your personal not-to-do list. Let it guide you as you become increasingly more effective.

As an executive coach working with leaders, it is important for me to assist my clients in being more effective and productive. The not-to-do list is a simple lifelong tool, probably underestimated, that can make a big difference in seeing real, measurable improvement in that very same effectiveness and productivity.

You take a Christian worker who loves the Lord, and has high expectations of ‘what God will do’. Make them a key decision maker carrying major responsibilities. They will prove themselves highly committed, heavily involved and willing to take on a demanding workload.

They will also, with great regularity, ratchet up.

Ratcheting up simply means you take the assignment (.. as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 1 Corinthians 3:5) you are sure ‘God has given you’ and you add to it. In this one area discernment often seems to be neglected.

While working you also see something else worthwhile to be done. You add it to your to-do list. You see a need here and a cause there to be addressed. Few step forward to help. And you do it … and do it … and do it.

Pretty soon you are doing more than the original assignment. You have ‘ratcheted up.’ And you may be on your way to ministry burnout and the signs of career burnout that are so common to any leader who is experiencing significant stress.

You become resentful of the task and critical of the people who have not volunteered. A gnawing ache develops in your gut and unwanted attitudes invade your thinking.

The cure? Know so well what you ‘have been called to do’, that saying ‘No’ to what you have not been called to do will be much easier.

In other words, know your priorities so well, that you say ‘No’ to those requests, no matter how good they are, that are not absolutely yours to accomplish. (If it isn’t an absolute yes, it’s a no.)

This is not to take away from doing what you have been assigned with excellence. Excellence is about depth not quantity.

Saying ‘no’ may allow others to step up and take responsibility, giving them the joy of seeing good things happen that are attached to their efforts and faith.

If the priorities and assignments all seem to blend into one and you find it difficult to sort them out, you may need to work with a life or leadership Coach for a period of time to gain some perspective.

Many people have been robbed of useful service because other well meaning Christians, most often leaders, have taken the task to themselves. If it is important, then God has prepared or is preparing the worker.

You are not the solution to every need.

Start here. Ten steps to address burnout.

1. Rule out anything medical. Make sure what you are feeling doesn’t have its roots in a physical problem.
2. Know that there is hope. This is not a hopeless situation without solutions. Just know that that is the case.
3. Take responsibility for change. Take ownership for turning this situation around.
4. Face the fear. Change will involve moving into new territory and leaving old. Be very clear about what it involves.
5. Develop a strategy. Clarity rules. Having a plan for letting things go or for adding new ways of working takes a lot of pressure off.
6. Name the one thing. One thing will make the biggest difference. One thing can probably unlock the road block to solutions. Name it clearly.
7. Have support. Don’t run solo through this time of life. Have good people with you and behind you. Hire a personal coach if need be.
8. Take significant action. That’s exactly what it will take. No playing around the fringes. Do what needs to be done to change what needs to be changed.
9. Know that burnout is not permanent. This will come to an end. Do it on your terms as far as possible.
10. Draw on your faith. God is available 24/7. There is no time you will catch Him off duty. Call out to Him for strength and solutions.

This is a turning moment in your life and work. And that should make Christmas look just a little bit brighter this year. Solutions are possible and with your intentional action are at hand.