Leaders make dozens of decisions every day. In fact, before you get that first cup of coffee, youve probably made several choices. Casual or business? Loafers or wing tips? Sweater or vest?
But the most important choices you make are not about appearancetheyre about importance. The things you decide to do, will directly influence your energy flow throughout the day.
Here are four questions that will help you evaluate the importance of any opportunity.
Is it God-honoring? Will your decided action maintain its integrity once its strained through the filter of your faith? If its not a Kingdom priority, it has the potential to drain your energy instead of enhancing it. Elmer Towns once said, Greatness involves more than measurable achievement; it starts with the leaders heart and not his head. It is rooted in virtues like self-sacrifice, love, courage, loyalty, accountability, humility, meaning, mission, passion, and commitment. Those are Kingdom qualities, and your decisions must posses that dynamic.
Does it have an eternal dimension? Does the proposed action merely result in accumulations on earth, or does it invest in eternity? Actions that are centered in the temporal are energy drainers. Will your proposed action increase your stock in the things of earth or will it add to your account in Heaven?
Will it add quality or merely quantity? Those unclaimed jewels of Jesus time, Mary and Martha, struggled with this very issue (Luke 10:3842). Martha was too heavenly, and Martha was too earthly. Wheres the balance? Thats the important question. Once you reach adulthood, chores are usually a choice. But keep adding chores, and the result is fewer choices! Chores begin to dominate and soon siphon your energy reserves.
How will it affect my family? The family is a God-given institution, but that doesnt mean were incarcerated in it. Interpersonal relationships with those we love the most should be joyous, not tumultuous. Adding an item to your to-do list might not necessarily be good for the family.
Every day you have a cash reserve of 1,440 minutes. You cant afford to waste them on any activity that doesnt add value to your life and advance the goals of your organization. Because you can do something is no reason that you should.
Evaluate every opportunity carefully.
